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

Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the ten research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $241.78.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $263.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 179.5% during the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Allianz SE purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in MarketAxess by 495.2% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in MarketAxess by 13,900.0% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in MarketAxess by 49.1% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 164 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $219.42 on Tuesday. MarketAxess has a 12-month low of $186.84 and a 12-month high of $296.68. The firm has a market cap of $8.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.18, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50 day moving average of $217.60 and a 200-day moving average of $224.48.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $208.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.81 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. The firm's revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.92 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that MarketAxess will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. 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.

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