First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Takes Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 21,724 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,910,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. owned about 0.06% of MarketAxess at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 2,889.6% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 339,261 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $68,032,000 after purchasing an additional 327,913 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $501,907,000 after purchasing an additional 291,134 shares during the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new position in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 14.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,076,877 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $275,122,000 after purchasing an additional 139,949 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,229,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 562,029 shares of the company's stock, valued at $150,438,302.43. This trade represents a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,300 shares of company stock worth $8,183,871 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on MKTX. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $261.30.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX traded down $1.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $224.43. The company had a trading volume of 364,442 shares, compared to its average volume of 321,850. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $236.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $247.31. The stock has a market cap of $8.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.41, a PEG ratio of 4.58 and a beta of 1.03. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $192.42 and a 52-week high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. The company's revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.25 EPS for the current year.

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.