MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Down 2.7% After Analyst Downgrade

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) traded down 2.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Piper Sandler lowered their price target on the stock from $220.00 to $213.00. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the stock. MarketAxess traded as low as $201.16 and last traded at $200.75. 1,069,525 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 124% from the average session volume of 477,336 shares. The stock had previously closed at $206.27.

MKTX has been the topic of several other reports. Morgan Stanley raised MarketAxess from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $252.11.

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Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter worth $119,095,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,300,536 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $520,013,000 after purchasing an additional 341,493 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter worth about $71,103,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $452,246,000 after buying an additional 236,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,298,409 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $519,533,000 after buying an additional 236,118 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $8.38 billion, a PE ratio of 30.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $204.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $235.15.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is an increase from MarketAxess's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio is currently 41.82%.

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.