MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Receives $254.78 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $255.44.

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th.

MarketAxess Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of MKTX opened at $212.94 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $206.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $237.71. MarketAxess has a 12-month low of $186.84 and a 12-month high of $296.68. The firm has a market cap of $8.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. Equities research analysts forecast that MarketAxess will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is presently 41.82%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at $119,095,000. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,300,536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $520,013,000 after purchasing an additional 341,493 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at about $71,103,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $452,246,000 after purchasing an additional 236,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,298,409 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $519,533,000 after purchasing an additional 236,118 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Company Profile

MarketAxess Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates an electronic trading platform for institutional investor and broker-dealer companies worldwide. The company offers trading technology that provides liquidity access in U.S. high-grade bonds, U.S. high-yield bonds, emerging market debt, eurobonds, municipal bonds, U.S.