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

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) had its target price decreased by Barclays from $256.00 to $225.00 in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider's stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on MKTX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $254.78.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX traded down $0.93 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $195.27. The stock had a trading volume of 557,445 shares, compared to its average volume of 519,024. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.86, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02. MarketAxess has a twelve month low of $191.91 and a twelve month high of $296.68. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $223.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $246.83.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This is a boost from MarketAxess's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess's payout ratio is presently 40.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MarketAxess news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of MarketAxess 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 562,029 shares of the company's stock, valued at $150,438,302.43. The trade was a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. First Hawaiian Bank acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at $1,088,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,966,000. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at $982,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 22.9% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 55,679 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $14,265,000 after purchasing an additional 10,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 461.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 57,876 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $13,041,000 after purchasing an additional 47,568 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.