MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts give MarketAxess a consensus "Hold" rating (7 holds, 3 buys) with an average 12‑month target of $201.11, and several brokers have trimmed targets recently while Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage with an "Outperform" and $195 target.
• MarketAxess missed quarterly estimates—EPS $1.68 vs. $1.72 expected and revenue $209.4M vs. $214.1M—though revenue was up 3.5% year‑over‑year; the stock trades around $172.8 with a $6.14B market cap and a 52‑week range of $156.17–$232.84.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.78 (annualized $3.12, ~1.8% yield) with a payout ratio of ~46.9%, and institutional investors own about 99.01% of the shares.

Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the ten analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $201.1111.

MKTX has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Barclays cut their target price on MarketAxess from $182.00 to $178.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Wall Street Zen raised MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday. They set an "outperform" rating and a $195.00 target price on the stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new position in MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in MarketAxess by 200.0% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management bought a new position in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Stance Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

MarketAxess Stock Down 2.3%

MarketAxess stock opened at $172.77 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a current ratio of 2.80. MarketAxess has a one year low of $156.17 and a one year high of $232.84.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $209.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $214.06 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.88% and a net margin of 29.14%.The firm's revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.73 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that MarketAxess will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th were given a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. This is a boost from MarketAxess's previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. MarketAxess's payout ratio is currently 46.85%.

MarketAxess Company Profile

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates a leading global electronic trading platform specializing in fixed-income securities and related products. The company's network enables institutional investors and broker-dealers to trade corporate bonds, municipal securities, emerging markets debt, U.S. Treasuries and credit default swaps in an automated, multi-dealer environment. MarketAxess also offers portfolio trading, data analytics, best-execution tools and post-trade services to streamline workflows and enhance price discovery across its marketplace.

In addition to core voice-like trading protocols, MarketAxess provides Open Trading®, an anonymous, all-to-all trading protocol designed to improve liquidity and transaction efficiency.

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