MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Price Target Cut to $225.00 by Analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its price target lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $251.00 to $225.00 in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on MKTX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $260.00 to $256.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $257.33.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $201.37 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.59 billion, a PE ratio of 27.29, a PEG ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $227.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $246.99. MarketAxess has a one year low of $192.42 and a one year high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. As a group, research analysts expect that MarketAxess will post 7.25 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 41.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 sale, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chairman now directly owns 562,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,438,302.43. The trade was a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 30,300 shares of company stock worth $8,183,871. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter worth $71,103,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 17.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $501,907,000 after purchasing an additional 291,134 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 13.4% during the fourth 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. bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter worth about $46,079,000. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new stake in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,967,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

About MarketAxess

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.