Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Sells 4,624 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. reduced its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 60.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,055 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,624 shares during the period. Lecap Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $783,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MKTX. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 1,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,479,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $324,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 47.4% during the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 3,507 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $898,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MarketAxess news, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.63, for a total transaction of $142,915.71. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,716,146.67. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 2.66% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $290.29 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $192.42 and a 1-year high of $297.97. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $259.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $227.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.91 and a quick ratio of 2.91. The company has a market cap of $11.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.24 and a beta of 1.08.

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

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on MKTX shares. Bank of America reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup lifted their price target on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $253.30.

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.