UBS Group Has Lowered Expectations for MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Stock Price

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its price target cut by UBS Group from $330.00 to $305.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

MKTX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $260.00 to $256.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $255.00 to $251.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $257.33.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $201.37 on Friday. MarketAxess has a twelve month low of $192.42 and a twelve month high of $296.68. The stock has a market cap of $7.59 billion, a PE ratio of 27.70, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $227.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $246.99.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. Research analysts forecast that MarketAxess will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,438,302.43. This represents a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 30,300 shares of company stock worth $8,183,871. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in MarketAxess by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $272,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. bought a new position in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,214,000. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth about $631,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 5,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,140,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in MarketAxess by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 14,265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,224,000 after purchasing an additional 1,464 shares during the period. 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.