MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley cut shares of MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $209.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, down from their previous target price of $247.00.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on MKTX. Barclays upped their price target on MarketAxess from $186.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Argus upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $212.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $194.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $255.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $205.91.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.0%

MarketAxess stock opened at $161.72 on Thursday. MarketAxess has a 52-week low of $156.17 and a 52-week high of $266.21. The firm has a market cap of $6.01 billion, a PE ratio of 27.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.44 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50 day moving average is $171.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $195.34.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $208.82 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.59 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.62% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.90 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 19th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.70%.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In other news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 1,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.59, for a total value of $298,544.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 43,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,062,180.72. This represents a 3.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 1,494 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.32, for a total transaction of $276,868.08. Following the sale, the executive owned 67,681 shares in the company, valued at $12,542,642.92. This represents a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.65% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 66.6% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,230,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $388,681,000 after purchasing an additional 891,303 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 485.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 758,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $167,195,000 after buying an additional 628,954 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the second quarter valued at approximately $114,593,000. North Reef Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 117.0% in the third quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 911,358 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $158,804,000 after acquiring an additional 491,358 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 329.4% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 618,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,904,000 after acquiring an additional 474,776 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

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.