MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.03, Zacks reports. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MKTX stock traded down $5.17 on Monday, reaching $196.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 515,803 shares, compared to its average volume of 507,161. The firm has a market cap of $7.40 billion, a PE ratio of 26.99, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $226.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $247.22. MarketAxess has a 12-month low of $192.42 and a 12-month high of $296.68.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from MarketAxess's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. MarketAxess's payout ratio is 40.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $254.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 562,029 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $150,438,302.43. This trade represents a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.