Morgan Stanley Cuts MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Price Target to $253.00

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its price objective trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $274.00 to $253.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $237.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $204.00 price objective (up from $202.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Argus raised shares of MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $212.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $226.18.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $170.50 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $6.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.70, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.89. MarketAxess has a 52 week low of $168.74 and a 52 week high of $296.68. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $186.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $207.48.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $219.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.05 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.62% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.72 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that MarketAxess will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 51.18%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 1,494 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.32, for a total transaction of $276,868.08. Following the transaction, the executive directly owned 67,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,542,642.92. This represents a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.59, for a total value of $298,544.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 43,208 shares in the company, valued at $8,062,180.72. This trade represents a 3.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in MarketAxess by 1.1% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,323,015 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $502,585,000 after buying an additional 24,606 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in MarketAxess by 4.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,532,696 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $342,312,000 after acquiring an additional 67,290 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in MarketAxess by 0.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,141,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $254,460,000 after acquiring an additional 6,448 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in MarketAxess by 485.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 758,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $167,195,000 after acquiring an additional 628,954 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Findlay Park Partners LLP increased its stake in MarketAxess by 1.4% during the first quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP now owns 680,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $147,118,000 after acquiring an additional 9,100 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.