Creative Planning Sells 282 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Creative Planning trimmed its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 14.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,636 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 282 shares during the period. Creative Planning’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $328,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MKTX. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 30.3% during the 1st quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 2,425,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $531,878,000 after buying an additional 564,820 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 2,889.6% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 339,261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $68,032,000 after purchasing an additional 327,913 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 21.2% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,657,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $363,508,000 after purchasing an additional 290,347 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 53.5% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 820,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $164,447,000 after purchasing an additional 285,665 shares during the period. Finally, Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 120.6% during the second quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 393,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $78,823,000 after purchasing an additional 214,928 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $290.78 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $11.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.70, a P/E/G ratio of 7.24 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 2.91, a quick ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $192.42 and a 1-year high of $297.97. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $253.63 and its 200 day moving average is $224.82.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $197.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $198.07 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.43% and a net margin of 33.71%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MarketAxess news, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.63, for a total value of $142,915.71. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,716,146.67. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America cut their price target on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on MarketAxess from $218.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $253.30.

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.