Stephens Inc. AR Sells 4,849 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Stephens Inc. AR reduced its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 60.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,187 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,849 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $816,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,539,440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $995,272,000 after acquiring an additional 13,018 shares during the last quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd raised its position in MarketAxess by 30.3% in the 1st quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 2,425,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $531,878,000 after purchasing an additional 564,820 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 10.3% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,828,055 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $366,580,000 after purchasing an additional 170,095 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 18.2% during the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,330,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $266,881,000 after purchasing an additional 204,960 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 53.5% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 820,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $164,447,000 after buying an additional 285,665 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.63, for a total value of $142,915.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on MKTX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $218.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Citigroup raised their price target 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 upped their price objective on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, StockNews.com raised MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Two equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $253.30.

MarketAxess Trading Down 2.9 %

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $279.15 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $10.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.22, a PEG ratio of 9.03 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $268.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $232.21.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 33.71% and a return on equity of 20.43%. The business had revenue of $197.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $198.07 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current year.

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

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.