MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Coverage Initiated at Bank of America

Bank of America started coverage on shares of MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued an underperform rating and a $199.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

MKTX has been the topic of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on MarketAxess from $263.00 to $225.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $239.00 to $236.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price objective on MarketAxess from $229.00 to $210.00 and set a sell rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, William Blair reissued an outperform rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $254.10.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MKTX opened at $222.19 on Wednesday. MarketAxess has a one year low of $200.01 and a one year high of $344.43. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $218.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $237.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.41 billion, a PE ratio of 32.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.98.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $197.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $196.70 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 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.58 EPS. Analysts expect that MarketAxess will post 7.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 13th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 43.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MarketAxess news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.26, for a total value of $442,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 70,092 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,508,555.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in MarketAxess by 146.4% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,265,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $270,422,000 after purchasing an additional 752,111 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 247.1% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 868,831 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $254,438,000 after buying an additional 618,533 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 18.3% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,928,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,537,253,000 after purchasing an additional 608,107 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth $128,535,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 385.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 545,563 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $116,554,000 after purchasing an additional 433,217 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

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.