MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Price Target Lowered to $132.00 at Barclays

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its price objective trimmed by Barclays from $170.00 to $132.00 in a research note published on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings cut MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Bank of America upgraded MarketAxess from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, June 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $195.00 price objective for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $168.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $173.45.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $113.98 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $127.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $158.12. The stock has a market cap of $4.05 billion, a PE ratio of 13.47, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a current ratio of 2.17. MarketAxess has a fifty-two week low of $108.75 and a fifty-two week high of $220.42.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 35.53%.The company had revenue of $233.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $231.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.87 EPS. MarketAxess’s revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that MarketAxess will post 7.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new stake in MarketAxess during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 200.0% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Stance Capital LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the third quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 300.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MarketAxess Company Profile

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates a leading global electronic trading platform specializing in fixed-income securities and related products. The company’s network enables institutional investors and broker-dealers to trade corporate bonds, municipal securities, emerging markets debt, U.S. Treasuries and credit default swaps in an automated, multi-dealer environment. MarketAxess also offers portfolio trading, data analytics, best-execution tools and post-trade services to streamline workflows and enhance price discovery across its marketplace.

In addition to core voice-like trading protocols, MarketAxess provides Open Trading®, an anonymous, all-to-all trading protocol designed to improve liquidity and transaction efficiency.