MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.74

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 6th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of 0.74 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.08%.

MarketAxess has raised its dividend payment by an average of 6.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 16 years. MarketAxess has a payout ratio of 36.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect MarketAxess to earn $8.16 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 36.3%.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ MKTX traded down $4.15 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $275.00. The company had a trading volume of 26,023 shares, compared to its average volume of 405,001. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $268.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $232.21. MarketAxess has a fifty-two week low of $192.42 and a fifty-two week high of $297.97. The company has a quick ratio of 2.91, a current ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a market cap of $10.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.22, a P/E/G ratio of 9.03 and a beta of 1.05.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.04. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.71% and a return on equity of 20.43%. The company had revenue of $197.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $198.07 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that MarketAxess will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In other news, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.63, for a total transaction of $142,915.71. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,716,146.67. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $253.30.

MarketAxess announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 6th that authorizes the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.