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

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, August 6th, investing.com reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be given a dividend of 0.74 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20.

MarketAxess has raised its dividend payment by an average of 6.3% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 16 consecutive years. MarketAxess has a dividend payout ratio of 37.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect MarketAxess to earn $7.91 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 37.4%.

MarketAxess Trading Up 5.2 %

MarketAxess stock opened at $234.58 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $8.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $207.92 and a 200-day moving average of $215.11. MarketAxess has a 52 week low of $192.42 and a 52 week high of $297.97.

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

MarketAxess declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MKTX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Barclays dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. UBS Group dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. StockNews.com lowered MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 target price on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $241.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total transaction of $99,740.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,034,895.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

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.