MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Wednesday.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Barclays decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $230.00 to $225.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Bank of America assumed coverage on MarketAxess in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an underperform rating and a $199.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $241.00.

MarketAxess Stock Up 2.2 %

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $225.63 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.13, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 1.03. MarketAxess has a twelve month low of $192.42 and a twelve month high of $297.97. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $206.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $217.90.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $210.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.99 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.82% and a net margin of 33.83%. MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.96 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that MarketAxess will post 7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were given a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 43.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total value of $99,740.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,034,895.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 30.3% in the first quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 2,425,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $531,878,000 after purchasing an additional 564,820 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth $128,535,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 21.2% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,657,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $363,508,000 after purchasing an additional 290,347 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 40.0% in the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 716,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $157,134,000 after purchasing an additional 204,660 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 7,385.0% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 159,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,733,000 after purchasing an additional 157,448 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.