MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $267.50.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MKTX shares. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays lifted their target price on MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In related news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total transaction of $5,435,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 592,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,883,880.75. The trade was a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the second quarter worth $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 405.1% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 47.4% during the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth $54,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Up 1.3 %

MKTX stock opened at $263.80 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $273.23 and a 200 day moving average of $238.10. The firm has a market cap of $9.95 billion, a PE ratio of 35.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.69 and a beta of 1.05. MarketAxess has a twelve month low of $192.42 and a twelve month high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The company’s revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that MarketAxess will post 7.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.11%.

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.