MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Board Initiates Share Repurchase Program

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, August 6th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $241.00.

MarketAxess Trading Up 5.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $234.58 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $207.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $215.11. MarketAxess has a 12 month low of $192.42 and a 12 month high of $297.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.89 billion, a PE ratio of 34.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 1.03.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $197.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $198.07 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.83% and a return on equity of 20.82%. MarketAxess’s revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.63 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess will post 7 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.47%.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total value of $99,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,034,895.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.