Piper Sandler Reiterates Neutral Rating for MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Piper Sandler reaffirmed their neutral rating on shares of MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $265.00 target price on the financial services provider's stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Citigroup raised their target price on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $218.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com upgraded MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $263.40.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX traded down $2.61 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $272.26. The company had a trading volume of 189,025 shares, compared to its average volume of 407,904. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $269.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $232.51. The stock has a market cap of $10.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.08, a P/E/G ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 1.05. MarketAxess has a 1 year low of $192.42 and a 1 year high of $297.97. The company has a current ratio of 2.91, a quick ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.71% and a return on equity of 20.43%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that MarketAxess will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.65%.

MarketAxess announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 901.5% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 16,014 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,103,000 after acquiring an additional 14,415 shares during the period. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the third quarter worth about $25,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in MarketAxess by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,240 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,342,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 6.5% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 2,192 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $562,000 after buying an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 15,325 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,926,000 after purchasing an additional 3,121 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.