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

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reissued by stock analysts at Piper Sandler in a research note issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $204.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $202.00. Piper Sandler’s price target points to a potential downside of 5.35% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Friday, April 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $240.00 to $237.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $240.67.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX stock opened at $215.53 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $219.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $215.44. MarketAxess has a 12 month low of $186.84 and a 12 month high of $296.68. The company has a market cap of $8.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.85.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.57% and a return on equity of 19.93%. The firm had revenue of $208.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.81 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.92 EPS. MarketAxess’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that MarketAxess will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 1st quarter worth about $280,000. Praxis Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the first quarter valued at approximately $376,000. Wilson Asset Management International PTY Ltd. raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 26.6% in the first quarter. Wilson Asset Management International PTY Ltd. now owns 60,492 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,087,000 after buying an additional 12,697 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 630,526 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $142,524,000 after buying an additional 15,713 shares during the period. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 13.6% in the first quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 24,671 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,338,000 after buying an additional 2,947 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.