MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.08 EPS

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.08, Briefing.com reports. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.43% and a net margin of 33.71%. The company had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX stock traded down $0.46 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $274.41. 407,932 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 408,917. The company has a market cap of $10.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.08, a P/E/G ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 1.05. MarketAxess has a 12-month low of $192.42 and a 12-month high of $297.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $269.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $232.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.91 and a quick ratio of 2.91.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.08%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.65%.

MarketAxess declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup increased their target price on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $263.40.

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.