Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Stock Price

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its target price lowered by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $129.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 12.27% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on MKTX. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America upgraded MarketAxess from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, June 12th. UBS Group lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $170.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $134.00 price objective (down from $189.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $167.45.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.8%

MKTX opened at $114.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.17 and a quick ratio of 2.17. MarketAxess has a one year low of $108.75 and a one year high of $219.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.56, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $127.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $158.12.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $233.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $231.91 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 35.53%.The firm’s revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.87 earnings per share. Analysts predict that MarketAxess will post 7.98 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its position in MarketAxess by 1.9% during the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 3,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $614,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 1.7% during the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 4,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $939,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 1.0% in the first quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 7,884 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,368,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 7,181 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,302,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.