Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Acquires 724 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 30.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 724 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $709,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MKTX. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 49.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 323,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $64,784,000 after acquiring an additional 107,315 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 13.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $653,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 309.0% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 17,589 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,527,000 after acquiring an additional 13,289 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 11.3% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,317 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $665,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 27.2% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 5,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,011,000 after acquiring an additional 1,079 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $220.50 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $239.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $247.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.31 billion, a PE ratio of 29.88, a P/E/G ratio of 6.67 and a beta of 1.03. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $192.42 and a 1-year high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.29 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In related news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total transaction of $5,435,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 592,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,883,880.75. This trade represents a 3.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,300 shares of company stock worth $8,183,871 in the last 90 days. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Bank of America dropped their target price 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. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $260.00 to $256.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $261.30.

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.