MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Trading Down 5% – Time to Sell?

Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) were down 5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $218.40 and last traded at $219.64. Approximately 108,435 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 490,549 shares. The stock had previously closed at $231.09.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MKTX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $263.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $213.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $232.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $241.78.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $8.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $216.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $227.61.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. The firm had revenue of $208.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.81 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.92 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 52.87%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 179.5% in the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Allianz SE acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in MarketAxess by 495.2% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in MarketAxess by 13,900.0% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 185.7% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.