Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Sells 1,063 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lessened its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,063 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $15,692,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in MarketAxess by 316.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 11,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,367,000 after buying an additional 8,771 shares during the period. Norris Perne & French LLP MI purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter valued at about $9,715,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in MarketAxess by 28,547.8% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 13,178 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,859,000 after buying an additional 13,132 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in MarketAxess by 3.4% during the third quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 91,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,622,000 after buying an additional 3,024 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in MarketAxess by 2.0% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,705,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $364,462,000 after buying an additional 33,288 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX traded up $0.21 on Friday, reaching $201.79. 253,631 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 416,860. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $199.34 and a 12 month high of $322.25. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $215.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $236.86. The company has a market cap of $7.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.98.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $197.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $196.70 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.29% and a return on equity of 21.76%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.58 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In related news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.26, for a total transaction of $442,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 70,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,508,555.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on MKTX. Bank of America started coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 price target for the company. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $239.00 to $236.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 8th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $250.00 to $237.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 12th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $229.00 to $210.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $263.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $252.80.

MarketAxess Company 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.