Pacer Advisors Inc. Reduces Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Pacer Advisors Inc. lowered its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 10.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 346 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $693,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,358 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,212,000 after buying an additional 702 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth $4,910,000. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in MarketAxess by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $673,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 1,927.3% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 4,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $958,000 after buying an additional 4,028 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Trading Down 1.1 %

MKTX opened at $218.19 on Tuesday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $192.42 and a 12 month high of $296.68. The company has a market cap of $8.23 billion, a PE ratio of 29.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average of $231.12 and a 200 day moving average of $247.67.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. Research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MarketAxess news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $150,438,302.43. The trade was a 1.75 % 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 dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 30,300 shares of company stock worth $8,183,871. 2.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on MKTX shares. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays lowered their price target 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. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $255.00 to $251.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $267.00.

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.