Barclays Raises MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Price Target to $232.00

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its price objective upped by Barclays from $225.00 to $232.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Barclays‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 7.68% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on MKTX. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America lifted 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, William Blair began coverage on MarketAxess in a research report on Friday. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $256.22.

MarketAxess Stock Up 1.2 %

MKTX traded up $2.51 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $215.45. 254,476 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 664,356. The company’s 50-day moving average is $206.64 and its 200 day moving average is $237.41. MarketAxess has a 52 week low of $186.84 and a 52 week high of $296.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.12 billion, a PE ratio of 29.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MKTX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,434,946 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,002,475,000 after purchasing an additional 90,805 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in MarketAxess by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,300,536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $520,013,000 after purchasing an additional 341,493 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in MarketAxess by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,298,409 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $519,533,000 after purchasing an additional 236,118 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $452,246,000 after buying an additional 236,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,369,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $309,472,000 after buying an additional 30,180 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

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.