Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 47.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,499 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $993,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MKTX. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in MarketAxess by 2,428.6% in the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in MarketAxess by 405.1% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the third quarter worth about $54,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 555.6% during the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MarketAxess news, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.63, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $287.40 on Monday. 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 50 day moving average price of $266.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $230.88. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $192.42 and a 1-year high of $297.97. The firm has a market cap of $10.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.10 and a beta of 1.05.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.04. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.43% and a net margin of 33.71%. The company had revenue of $197.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $198.07 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.26 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, August 6th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Two research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $253.30.

MarketAxess Company 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.