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

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

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on MKTX. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $230.00 to $225.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an underperform rating and a $199.00 price objective for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $241.00.

MarketAxess Stock Up 2.2 %

MarketAxess stock opened at $225.63 on Wednesday. MarketAxess has a 52-week low of $192.42 and a 52-week high of $297.97. The firm 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. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $206.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $218.26.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.07. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.83% and a return on equity of 20.82%. The business had revenue of $210.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess will post 7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total transaction of $99,740.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,034,895.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 30.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $128,535,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings 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 valued at $363,508,000 after acquiring an additional 290,347 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 40.0% in the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 716,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $157,134,000 after acquiring an additional 204,660 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings 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 valued at $46,733,000 after acquiring an additional 157,448 shares in the last quarter. 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.