MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Given New $129.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its price objective cut by Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $129.00 in a report released on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on MKTX. Weiss Ratings lowered MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $168.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America raised shares of MarketAxess from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $167.45.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MKTX stock traded down $0.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $113.86. 517,179 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 713,226. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $157.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.17 and a quick ratio of 2.17. The company has a market cap of $4.05 billion, a PE ratio of 13.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.88. MarketAxess has a 1 year low of $108.75 and a 1 year high of $219.18.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 35.53%.The business had revenue of $233.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $231.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.87 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that MarketAxess will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 36.88%.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 305.3% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 46,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,449,000 after purchasing an additional 35,056 shares during the last quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 117.0% during the 3rd quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 911,358 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $158,804,000 after buying an additional 491,358 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 163.1% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 12,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,280,000 after buying an additional 7,798 shares during the period. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,435,000. Finally, Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,326,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates a leading global electronic trading platform specializing in fixed-income securities and related products. The company’s network enables institutional investors and broker-dealers to trade corporate bonds, municipal securities, emerging markets debt, U.S. Treasuries and credit default swaps in an automated, multi-dealer environment. MarketAxess also offers portfolio trading, data analytics, best-execution tools and post-trade services to streamline workflows and enhance price discovery across its marketplace.

In addition to core voice-like trading protocols, MarketAxess provides Open Trading®, an anonymous, all-to-all trading protocol designed to improve liquidity and transaction efficiency.