MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Price Target Raised to $276.00 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its price objective raised by stock analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $270.00 to $276.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price indicates a potential upside of 1.46% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group increased their target price on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $263.40.

MarketAxess Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX traded down $2.83 on Thursday, hitting $272.04. 86,613 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 407,350. MarketAxess has a 12 month low of $192.42 and a 12 month high of $297.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $269.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $232.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.91 and a quick ratio of 2.91.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.43% and a net margin of 33.71%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that MarketAxess will post 7.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 6th that permits the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MKTX. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 901.5% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 16,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,103,000 after buying an additional 14,415 shares during the period. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the third quarter valued at $25,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 7.7% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,342,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 6.5% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 2,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $562,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 25.6% in the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 15,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,926,000 after buying an additional 3,121 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.