The Goldman Sachs Group Has Lowered Expectations for MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Stock Price

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) had its price objective lowered by equities research analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $168.00 to $130.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 18.26% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on MKTX. Bank of America upgraded MarketAxess from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, June 12th. UBS Group decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Argus downgraded MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $195.00 price target on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $178.27.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $109.93 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $135.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $161.68. MarketAxess has a 1 year low of $108.75 and a 1 year high of $225.07.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.53% and a return on equity of 22.28%. The business had revenue of $233.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.87 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that MarketAxess will post 8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 444.2% during the third quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 38,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,638,000 after purchasing an additional 31,093 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 305.3% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 46,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,449,000 after purchasing an additional 35,056 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 163.1% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 12,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,280,000 after purchasing an additional 7,798 shares during the period. North Reef Capital Management LP increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 117.0% in the third quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 911,358 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $158,804,000 after purchasing an additional 491,358 shares during the period. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new position in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter worth $2,435,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.