Piper Sandler Trims MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Target Price to $225.00

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its price target decreased by stock analysts at Piper Sandler from $230.00 to $225.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Piper Sandler’s target price indicates a potential upside of 11.93% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Bank of America started coverage on MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $236.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $248.64.

MarketAxess Trading Up 3.7 %

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $201.01 on Wednesday. MarketAxess has a 1 year low of $192.42 and a 1 year high of $297.97. The company has a market cap of $7.62 billion, a PE ratio of 29.52, a PEG ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $203.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $225.58.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.07. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.83% and a return on equity of 20.82%. The business had revenue of $210.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.99 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that MarketAxess will post 7.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total transaction of $99,740.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,034,895.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.66% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 30.3% during the 1st quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 2,425,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $531,878,000 after buying an additional 564,820 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at about $128,535,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 21.2% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,657,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $363,508,000 after purchasing an additional 290,347 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 40.0% in the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 716,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $157,134,000 after purchasing an additional 204,660 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 7,385.0% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 159,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,733,000 after purchasing an additional 157,448 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.