MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Price Target Cut to $210.00 by Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its target price reduced by The Goldman Sachs Group from $235.00 to $210.00 in a research note published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. UBS Group lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $254.78.

MarketAxess Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of MKTX opened at $196.20 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $7.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02. MarketAxess has a 1 year low of $192.42 and a 1 year high of $296.68. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $225.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $247.05.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MarketAxess will post 8.05 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is presently 40.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 562,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,438,302.43. The trade was a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $71,103,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 17.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $501,907,000 after acquiring an additional 291,134 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $452,246,000 after purchasing an additional 236,497 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,079,000. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at $42,967,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

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.