MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Price Target Lowered to $240.00 at Piper Sandler

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its price objective decreased by Piper Sandler from $265.00 to $240.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

MKTX has been the subject of several other research reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $276.00 to $255.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $262.10.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MarketAxess stock opened at $219.60 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.28 billion, a PE ratio of 29.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.03. MarketAxess has a one year low of $192.42 and a one year high of $296.68. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $249.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $245.50.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. The business 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%. MarketAxess’s revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that MarketAxess will post 7.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th were issued a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.11%.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In related news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total value of $5,435,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 592,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,883,880.75. This represents a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 30,300 shares of company stock worth $8,183,871. 2.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 2.9% in the second quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 1,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $314,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 0.3% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 15,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,953,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 1.0% in the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 5,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,287,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 4.0% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $376,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 4.9% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $324,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.