Brokerages Set MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) PT at $261.30

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $261.30.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $255.00 to $251.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $221.96 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.08, a PEG ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 1.03. MarketAxess has a twelve month low of $192.42 and a twelve month high of $296.68. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $238.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $247.17.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that MarketAxess will post 7.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total value of $2,676,700.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 562,029 shares in the company, valued at $150,438,302.43. This trade represents a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,300 shares of company stock worth $8,183,871 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new stake in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 555.6% in the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.