MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Receives $257.33 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $254.78.

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MKTX shares. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MKTX. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its stake in MarketAxess by 179.5% in the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 495.2% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 13,900.0% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $195.27 on Friday. MarketAxess has a 1 year low of $191.91 and a 1 year high of $296.68. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $223.92 and its 200-day moving average is $246.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.36 billion, a PE ratio of 26.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. 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.