StockNews.com Begins Coverage on MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX)

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX – Get Rating) in a research report released on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $314.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Atlantic Securities raised MarketAxess from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and upped their price target for the company from $321.00 to $403.00 in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on MarketAxess from $238.00 to $288.00 and gave the company a sell rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. TheStreet raised MarketAxess from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a report on Wednesday, March 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on MarketAxess from $297.00 to $336.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $331.36.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $389.77 on Thursday. MarketAxess has a one year low of $217.44 and a one year high of $397.27. The company has a market cap of $14.66 billion, a PE ratio of 58.61 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $352.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $289.61.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 24.34% and a net margin of 34.84%. The business had revenue of $177.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.92 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.37 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess will post 7.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 8th were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 7th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 43.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.80, for a total value of $89,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 7,156 shares in the company, valued at $2,567,572.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 604 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $366.58, for a total transaction of $221,414.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,882 shares in the company, valued at $2,156,223.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.80, for a total value of $89,700.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 7,156 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,567,572.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,854 shares of company stock worth $659,844. 1.94% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MKTX. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 17,428.1% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 932,496 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $260,064,000 after purchasing an additional 927,176 shares during the last quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd raised its position in MarketAxess by 34.2% in the second quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 1,961,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $502,179,000 after acquiring an additional 499,907 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth $110,636,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its position in MarketAxess by 138.8% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 627,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $178,810,000 after acquiring an additional 364,829 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in MarketAxess by 7,501.4% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 348,906 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $77,628,000 after acquiring an additional 344,316 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

About MarketAxess

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MarketAxess Holdings, Inc engages in electronic trading platform that allows investment industry professionals to trade corporate bonds and other types of fixed-income instruments. It operates through the Americas, Europe, and Asia geographical segments. The company was founded by Richard Mitchell Mcvey on April 11, 2000, and is headquartered in New York, NY.