Barclays Cuts MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Price Target to $225.00

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its price target decreased by Barclays from $236.00 to $225.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on MarketAxess from $263.00 to $225.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. William Blair restated an outperform rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $229.00 to $210.00 and set a sell rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an underperform rating and a $199.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $249.73.

MarketAxess Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of MKTX stock traded up $2.61 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $204.82. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 306,717 shares, compared to its average volume of 422,260. The company has a 50 day moving average of $213.04 and a 200 day moving average of $234.73. MarketAxess has a 12-month low of $198.01 and a 12-month high of $303.85. The stock has a market cap of $7.70 billion, a PE ratio of 29.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 0.98.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $210.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.99 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 21.76% and a net margin of 34.29%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.96 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that MarketAxess will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 21st. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.21%.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 2,000 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.26, for a total transaction of $442,520.00. Following the sale, the executive now owns 70,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,508,555.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,526,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,325,563,000 after buying an additional 34,197 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in MarketAxess by 2.0% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,705,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $364,462,000 after purchasing an additional 33,288 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 21.2% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,657,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $363,508,000 after purchasing an additional 290,347 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,122,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $328,742,000 after buying an additional 4,340 shares during the period. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 204,660 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.