Blue Trust Inc. Reduces Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Blue Trust Inc. cut its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 22.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 183 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $142,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the third quarter worth $25,000. Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth about $54,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 555.6% during the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 160.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 562,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,438,302.43. This represents a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Trading Down 8.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $198.07 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.47 billion, a PE ratio of 26.84, a P/E/G ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.02. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $192.42 and a 12-month high of $296.68. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $228.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $247.31.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its 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. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The company had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.25 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MKTX shares. Piper Sandler cut their target price on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $260.00 to $256.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group boosted their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $255.00 to $251.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $267.00.

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.