MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Receives “Neutral” Rating from Piper Sandler

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reissued by equities researchers at Piper Sandler in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $225.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock. Piper Sandler’s target price would suggest a potential downside of 3.74% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. UBS Group cut 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays cut their price objective 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. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 price objective on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $241.00.

MarketAxess Stock Up 4.9 %

NASDAQ MKTX traded up $10.83 on Tuesday, reaching $233.73. The stock had a trading volume of 293,598 shares, compared to its average volume of 424,137. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.32, a P/E/G ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 1.03. MarketAxess has a 12-month low of $192.42 and a 12-month high of $297.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $207.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $215.62.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $210.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.99 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.82% and a net margin of 33.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.96 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that MarketAxess will post 7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total transaction of $99,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,034,895.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 30.3% during the first quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 2,425,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $531,878,000 after purchasing an additional 564,820 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth about $128,535,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 21.2% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,657,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $363,508,000 after purchasing an additional 290,347 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 40.0% during the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 716,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $157,134,000 after purchasing an additional 204,660 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 7,385.0% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 159,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,733,000 after purchasing an additional 157,448 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.