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

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 7th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be paid a dividend of 0.74 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 21st.

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% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect MarketAxess to earn $8.14 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 36.4%.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX traded down $1.59 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $199.30. 156,518 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 420,648. The stock has a market cap of $7.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.42, a P/E/G ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $213.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $234.96. MarketAxess has a 1 year low of $198.01 and a 1 year high of $303.85.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $210.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.99 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.29% and a return on equity of 21.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.96 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that MarketAxess will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In related news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.26, for a total transaction of $442,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 70,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,508,555.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MKTX has been the topic of several research reports. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $229.00 to $210.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America started coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 price objective for the company. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $250.00 to $237.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $250.73.

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.