Analysts Set MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) PT at $264.60

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Hold" by the eleven analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $264.60.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MKTX. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. UBS Group raised their target price on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup upped their price target on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $276.00 to $255.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total transaction of $5,435,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 592,029 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $160,883,880.75. The trade was a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871. Insiders own 2.66% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 2,889.6% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 339,261 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $68,032,000 after buying an additional 327,913 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 17.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $501,907,000 after acquiring an additional 291,134 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 53.5% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 820,060 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $164,447,000 after purchasing an additional 285,665 shares during the period. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 120.6% during the second quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 393,073 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $78,823,000 after purchasing an additional 214,928 shares during the period. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 18.2% in the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,330,880 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $266,881,000 after purchasing an additional 204,960 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of MKTX stock traded up $1.64 on Friday, hitting $230.15. 1,100,021 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 414,327. The firm's 50 day moving average is $266.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $242.69. MarketAxess has a one year low of $192.42 and a one year high of $297.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.68 billion, a PE ratio of 31.19, a P/E/G ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 1.00.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess will post 7.38 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess's payout ratio is 40.11%.

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.