MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Stock Rating Lowered by Argus

Key Points

• Argus downgraded MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) from a "buy" to a "hold"; overall analyst mix is 3 Buys, 8 Holds and 1 Sell with a consensus price target of $200.40.
• MarketAxess slightly missed Q4 estimates with EPS of $1.68 vs. $1.72 expected and revenue of $209.4M vs. $214.1M, though revenue rose 3.5% year-over-year; the stock trades near $180 with a P/E of 27.08 and a $6.41B market cap.
• Institutional ownership is 99.01%, and large managers including AQR, Primecap, Bank of Montreal and North Reef materially increased their stakes in the most recent quarter.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at Argus from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on MKTX. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $182.00 to $178.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded MarketAxess from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded MarketAxess from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $200.40.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $180.33 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.93. MarketAxess has a 1 year low of $156.17 and a 1 year high of $232.84. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $176.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.72. The company has a current ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.04). MarketAxess had a net margin of 29.14% and a return on equity of 20.88%. The company had revenue of $209.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $214.06 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.73 earnings per share. MarketAxess's revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 169.0% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,558,097 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $463,655,000 after acquiring an additional 1,607,009 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 42.4% in the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,175,425 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $575,546,000 after purchasing an additional 944,830 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 5,086.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 951,024 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $172,373,000 after purchasing an additional 932,687 shares during the last quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 76.6% during the 4th quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 1,609,330 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $291,691,000 after purchasing an additional 697,972 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter worth about $114,593,000. 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.

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