Mediolanum International Funds Ltd Acquires New Shares in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd purchased a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 4,369 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $982,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $501,907,000 after buying an additional 291,134 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,338,922 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $343,032,000 after purchasing an additional 8,042 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 14.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,076,877 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $275,122,000 after acquiring an additional 139,949 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC grew its position in MarketAxess by 42.1% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 393,877 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $100,911,000 after purchasing an additional 116,607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in MarketAxess by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 220,146 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $56,401,000 after acquiring an additional 17,945 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on MKTX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $260.00 to $256.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $255.00 to $251.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $267.00.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX traded down $19.24 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $198.07. The company had a trading volume of 1,293,082 shares, compared to its average volume of 481,345. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $192.42 and a 1-year high of $296.68. The company has a market capitalization of $7.47 billion, a PE ratio of 26.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.02. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $230.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $247.65.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

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

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.