MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Sets New 1-Year Low on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday after The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on the stock from $235.00 to $210.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. MarketAxess traded as low as $191.91 and last traded at $191.91, with a volume of 50922 shares. The stock had previously closed at $196.20.

MKTX has been the topic of several other research reports. UBS Group lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $254.78.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other 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 value of $2,676,700.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 562,029 shares in the company, valued at $150,438,302.43. This trade represents a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of MKTX. Park Avenue Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at about $261,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 128.2% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $129,000 after buying an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 39.5% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $194,000 after buying an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 555.6% in the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Trading Down 1.7 %

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $225.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $247.05. The stock has a market cap of $7.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.72%.

About MarketAxess

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.