Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Cuts MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Price Target to $251.00

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its target price trimmed by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $255.00 to $251.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a market perform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. UBS Group upped their price objective on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $260.00 to $256.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $261.30.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $217.82 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $242.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $246.20. The firm has a market cap of $8.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.51, a P/E/G ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.03. MarketAxess has a 52 week low of $192.42 and a 52 week high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. MarketAxess’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that MarketAxess will post 7.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total value of $2,676,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 562,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,438,302.43. This trade represents a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871. 2.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Hawaiian Bank acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter worth about $1,088,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,966,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 22.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 55,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,265,000 after acquiring an additional 10,361 shares during the period. Geneva Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 15,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,926,000 after acquiring an additional 3,121 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 461.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 57,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,041,000 after acquiring an additional 47,568 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.