MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• MarketAxess has a consensus “Hold” rating from 13 brokerages: 11 holds, one sell and one buy. The average 12-month price target is $156.10, below the reported opening price of $162.60.
• The company exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting adjusted EPS of $1.95 versus the $1.85 consensus and revenue of $218.41 million, although revenue declined 0.5% year over year.
• MarketAxess declared a quarterly dividend of $0.78 per share, equivalent to $3.12 annually and a 1.9% yield. Institutional investors own approximately 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $156.10.

A number of research firms recently commented on MKTX. UBS Group lowered MarketAxess from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $167.00 in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Bank of America raised shares of MarketAxess from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $170.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased 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. Wall Street Zen lowered MarketAxess from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Monday, August 3rd.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $162.60 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, a PEG ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 2.17, a current ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. MarketAxess has a twelve month low of $108.75 and a twelve month high of $195.96. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $125.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $151.07.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $218.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $216.70 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.48% and a net margin of 35.22%.The business's quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.00 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess will post 8.05 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.79%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Amundi grew its position in MarketAxess by 803.9% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 258,708 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $42,682,000 after purchasing an additional 230,087 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 638.7% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 21,009 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,472,000 after buying an additional 18,165 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 190.5% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 75,665 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $13,714,000 after buying an additional 49,619 shares in the last quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 523.8% in the first quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 104,174 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $17,187,000 after buying an additional 87,474 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the second quarter valued at about $406,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company's stock.

About MarketAxess

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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