MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.08 EPS

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX traded down $0.46 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $274.41. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 407,932 shares, compared to its average volume of 408,917. The company has a current ratio of 2.91, a quick ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $269.28 and a 200-day moving average of $232.51. The company has a market capitalization of $10.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.08, a P/E/G ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 1.05. MarketAxess has a fifty-two week low of $192.42 and a fifty-two week high of $297.97.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 42.65%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MKTX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group upped their target price on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays raised their price target 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $218.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $263.40.

MarketAxess announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan 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 buy up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.