Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Cuts MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Price Target to $255.00

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its price target cut by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $276.00 to $255.00 in a research report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

MKTX has been the topic of a number of other reports. Bank of America dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $289.00 to $260.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $264.60.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.7 %

MarketAxess stock opened at $230.15 on Friday. MarketAxess has a 12 month low of $192.42 and a 12 month high of $297.97. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $266.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $243.32. The firm has a market cap of $8.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.19, a PEG ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.00.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. MarketAxess’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MarketAxess will post 7.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th were issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.11%.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were 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 directly owns 562,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,438,302.43. The trade was a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,300 shares of company stock worth $8,183,871 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the third quarter worth $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 405.1% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at about $54,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its position in MarketAxess by 555.6% in the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

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.