MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened 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 traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MKTX. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target 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. Barclays lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One equities 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $255.44.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $206.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $238.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.33, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted 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 net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. On average, research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.82%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 179.5% during the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Allianz SE bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 495.2% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 49.1% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is 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.