Contravisory Investment Management Inc. Takes Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 3,363 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $760,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the second quarter valued at approximately $881,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter worth $236,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in MarketAxess by 40.1% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,835 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,774,000 after buying an additional 3,963 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 49.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 323,064 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $64,784,000 after buying an additional 107,315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in MarketAxess by 3,066.1% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 164,636 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $33,014,000 after buying an additional 159,436 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In related news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chairman now directly owns 562,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,438,302.43. The trade was a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 30,300 shares of company stock worth $8,183,871. 2.66% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MKTX shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $255.00 to $251.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Two investment 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $261.30.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX traded up $3.88 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $221.70. 395,514 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 429,839. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.67 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $242.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $246.20. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $192.42 and a twelve month high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $206.70 million during 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 for the quarter was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.