MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its target price lifted by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $129.00 to $167.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price points to a potential upside of 1.64% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on MKTX. UBS Group cut MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $167.00 in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. William Blair cut MarketAxess from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $134.00 price target (down from $189.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Bank of America raised MarketAxess from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $159.90.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $164.31 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $163.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $147.00. MarketAxess has a 12 month low of $108.75 and a 12 month high of $195.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.78 billion, a PE ratio of 19.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.80.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.22% and a return on equity of 22.48%. The company had revenue of $218.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $216.70 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.00 earnings per share. MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that MarketAxess will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Director William Cruger, Jr. sold 6,164 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.20, for a total transaction of $1,005,964.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,033 shares in the company, valued at $658,185.60. The trade was a 60.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 6,364 shares of company stock valued at $1,038,557 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in MarketAxess during the second quarter valued at approximately $453,941,000. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter worth $397,772,000. North Reef Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 16.5% during the 1st quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 1,875,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $309,338,000 after acquiring an additional 265,670 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 581,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $95,933,000 after acquiring an additional 54,503 shares during the period. Finally, Azora Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter valued at $58,230,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Company Profile

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates an electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities. Its marketplace connects institutional investors, asset managers, broker-dealers and other market participants, enabling them to trade corporate bonds, emerging-market debt, government securities and other credit products electronically.

The company’s services include automated trading tools, request-for-quote workflows and its Open Trading marketplace, which brings together liquidity from a broad network of institutional participants.