MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $216.15, but opened at $227.35. MarketAxess shares last traded at $224.73, with a volume of 101,258 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America boosted their price target on MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $255.44.

MarketAxess Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $8.03 billion, a PE ratio of 29.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $206.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $237.56.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a $0.76 dividend. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.82%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 5.6% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,804 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $718,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Centiva Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter worth $332,000. Investment Management Corp of Ontario acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at about $308,000. Parallax Volatility Advisers L.P. acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at about $481,000. Finally, Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 327.8% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 646 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $166,000 after purchasing an additional 495 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.