MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Rating Lowered to Sell at Wall Street Zen

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Sunday.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on MKTX. Citigroup lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $295.00 price target on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $204.00 target price (up previously from $202.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Barclays decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $240.00 to $237.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on MarketAxess from $283.00 to $274.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $240.67.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.8%

MKTX stock opened at $208.84 on Friday. MarketAxess has a 12-month low of $186.84 and a 12-month high of $296.68. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $219.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $215.15. The firm has a market cap of $7.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.85.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allianz SE purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 200.0% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 185.7% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 49.1% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the second quarter worth about $37,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.