MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.76 Per Share

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of 0.76 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74.

MarketAxess has raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.9% per year over the last three years. MarketAxess has a dividend payout ratio of 35.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect MarketAxess to earn $9.10 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 33.4%.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $193.49 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $220.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $246.18. The company has a market cap of $7.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.61, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02. MarketAxess has a fifty-two week low of $188.88 and a fifty-two week high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. As a group, equities analysts predict that MarketAxess will post 8.05 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on MKTX shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $254.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

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.