UMB Bank n.a. Reduces Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

UMB Bank n.a. lowered its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 31.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 64 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $32,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 555.6% in the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 160.3% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MKTX. UBS Group lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $255.00 to $251.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $261.30.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total transaction of $5,435,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 592,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $160,883,880.75. The trade was a 3.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871 in the last quarter. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $224.43 on Friday. The company 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. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $236.34 and its 200 day moving average is $247.31. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $192.42 and a 1-year high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share 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%. MarketAxess’s revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.25 EPS for the current year.

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.