MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.08, Briefing.com reports. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.71% and a return on equity of 20.43%. The company had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX opened at $274.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.91 and a quick ratio of 2.91. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $269.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $232.80. The firm has a market cap of $10.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.54, a PEG ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 1.05. MarketAxess has a 1 year low of $192.42 and a 1 year high of $297.97.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.65%.

MarketAxess announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 6th that authorizes the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MKTX has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $218.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $263.40.

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.