MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $156.10 According to Brokerages

Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $156.10.

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $167.00 target price (up from $150.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $175.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. UBS Group downgraded MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $167.00 in a research report on Friday, July 31st. William Blair lowered MarketAxess from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Wednesday, July 8th.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other news, Director William Cruger, Jr. sold 6,164 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.20, for a total transaction of $1,005,964.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,033 shares in the company, valued at $658,185.60. This represents a 60.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 6,464 shares of company stock worth $1,050,069 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter worth about $453,941,000. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter valued at about $397,772,000. North Reef Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 16.5% during the 1st quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 1,875,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $309,338,000 after purchasing an additional 265,670 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 581,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $95,933,000 after purchasing an additional 54,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at about $91,324,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX stock opened at $164.14 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $160.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $147.33. The company has a market capitalization of $5.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.36, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.80. MarketAxess has a 52-week low of $108.75 and a 52-week high of $195.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 1.85.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.22% and a return on equity of 22.48%. The company had revenue of $218.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $216.70 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.00 earnings per share. MarketAxess’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that MarketAxess will post 8.06 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were paid a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.79%.

MarketAxess Company Profile

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates an electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities. Its marketplace connects institutional investors, asset managers, broker-dealers and other market participants, enabling them to trade corporate bonds, emerging-market debt, government securities and other credit products electronically.

The company’s services include automated trading tools, request-for-quote workflows and its Open Trading marketplace, which brings together liquidity from a broad network of institutional participants.