MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on MKTX. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $241.00.

MarketAxess Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of MKTX opened at $220.86 on Wednesday. MarketAxess has a 12-month low of $192.42 and a 12-month high of $297.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $206.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $218.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.43, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 1.03.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.07. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.83% and a return on equity of 20.82%. The company had revenue of $210.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.99 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.96 earnings per share. MarketAxess’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that MarketAxess will post 7.01 earnings per share 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 stock was sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total value of $99,740.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,034,895.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in MarketAxess during the first quarter valued at about $7,866,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 174.2% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,478,000 after buying an additional 4,284 shares in the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 84.0% during the fourth quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 9,861 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,888,000 after buying an additional 4,502 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 96,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,253,000 after purchasing an additional 21,041 shares during the period. Finally, Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 176,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,584,000 after purchasing an additional 5,859 shares during the period. 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.