Barclays Cuts MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Price Target to $225.00

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its target price trimmed by Barclays from $256.00 to $225.00 in a research report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

MKTX has been the subject of a number of other reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. UBS Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $257.33.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MKTX opened at $201.37 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.70, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $226.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $247.22. MarketAxess has a 12 month low of $192.42 and a 12 month high of $296.68.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.72%.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In related news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 562,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,438,302.43. This trade represents a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871 over the last 90 days. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MKTX. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 179.5% during the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 495.2% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 13,900.0% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.