MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Rating Increased to Neutral at Bank of America

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) was upgraded by research analysts at Bank of America from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $170.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 46.14% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Argus downgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 11th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $134.00 price objective (down from $189.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $195.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $183.10.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $116.33 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.75, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a current ratio of 2.17. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $148.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $165.65. MarketAxess has a 52 week low of $113.29 and a 52 week high of $228.16.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $233.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.91 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.53% and a return on equity of 22.28%. MarketAxess’s revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.87 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 444.2% in the 3rd quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 38,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,638,000 after buying an additional 31,093 shares in the last quarter. Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,361,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 305.3% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 46,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,449,000 after buying an additional 35,056 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in MarketAxess by 163.1% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 12,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,280,000 after purchasing an additional 7,798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in MarketAxess by 66.6% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,230,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $388,681,000 after purchasing an additional 891,303 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About MarketAxess

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.