MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $241.78.

MKTX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $232.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. William Blair started coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Friday, April 4th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Allianz SE acquired a new position in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased 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 acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased 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 acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 49.1% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MKTX stock opened at $219.42 on Tuesday. MarketAxess has a 1 year low of $186.84 and a 1 year high of $296.68. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $217.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $224.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.18, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.89.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $208.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.81 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. MarketAxess’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.92 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that MarketAxess will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be given a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.87%.

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.