MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (MKTX) - What Are Analysts Saying About This Stock?

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a cautious outlook: MarketAxess has a consensus “Hold” rating from 13 analysts, with 12 holds and one buy. The average 12-month price target is $159.44.
• Recent earnings fell short of expectations: The company reported quarterly EPS of $1.86 versus the $1.95 consensus estimate and revenue of $210.41 million versus expectations of $218.98 million, although revenue increased 0.8% year over year.
• MarketAxess continues to return capital to investors: The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.78 per share, equivalent to a 1.9% yield, while insiders sold more than $1 million of stock during the quarter.

Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $159.44.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MKTX. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on MarketAxess from $168.00 to $130.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $132.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on MarketAxess from $129.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 9th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director William Cruger, Jr. sold 6,164 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 4,033 shares of the company's stock, valued at $658,185.60. This represents a 60.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 6,464 shares of company stock valued at $1,055,022. 0.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MKTX. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 7.7% in the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,550 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $582,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the period. MBL Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth about $260,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at $56,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at about $259,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,574 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $165.02 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $163.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $155.62. MarketAxess has a 12 month low of $108.75 and a 12 month high of $195.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market cap of $5.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.80.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.95 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $210.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.98 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.51% and a return on equity of 23.15%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. Equities analysts predict that MarketAxess will post 8.08 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 11th will be given a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 10th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.19%.

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates an electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities and related market data services. The company connects institutional investors, broker-dealers and other market participants, enabling them to trade corporate bonds, government bonds, emerging-market debt and other credit products through digital workflows.

Its offerings include electronic request-for-quote trading, all-to-all trading through its Open Trading marketplace, portfolio trading, and tools designed to support pricing, liquidity discovery and trade execution.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.