MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Trading Up 3.5% on Analyst Upgrade

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) shot up 3.5% on Thursday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $189.00 to $191.00. Bank of America currently has an underperform rating on the stock. MarketAxess traded as high as $220.03 and last traded at $218.18. 99,555 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 462,906 shares. The stock had previously closed at $210.83.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays cut their price target on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, UBS Group decreased 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, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $255.44.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its position in MarketAxess by 179.5% during the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Allianz SE purchased a new stake in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 495.2% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 13,900.0% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 49.1% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Up 3.1 %

The business’s 50 day moving average is $207.07 and its 200 day moving average is $238.18. The company has a market cap of $8.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.82%.

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.