MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Sold by Ownership Capital B.V.

Ownership Capital B.V. lessened its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 770,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 26,324 shares during the period. MarketAxess accounts for approximately 5.0% of Ownership Capital B.V.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Ownership Capital B.V. owned approximately 2.03% of MarketAxess worth $225,680,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. CWM LLC grew its stake in MarketAxess by 51.1% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $148,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in MarketAxess by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 789 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $169,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in MarketAxess by 126.2% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 9,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,925,000 after acquiring an additional 5,026 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its stake in MarketAxess by 47.7% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 6,585 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,407,000 after acquiring an additional 2,126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its stake in MarketAxess by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 9,320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,991,000 after acquiring an additional 944 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 2,000 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.26, for a total transaction of $442,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 70,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,508,555.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MKTX. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $239.00 to $236.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $229.00 to $210.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $250.00 to $237.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 12th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $252.80.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MarketAxess stock traded up $0.21 during trading on Friday, hitting $201.79. 253,643 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 334,279. The stock has a market cap of $7.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $214.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $236.62. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $199.34 and a 12-month high of $322.25.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $197.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $196.70 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.29% and a return on equity of 21.76%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.58 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Profile

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.