Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 46.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,797 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 29,136 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.09% of MarketAxess worth $7,312,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,300,536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $520,013,000 after acquiring an additional 341,493 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in MarketAxess by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,298,409 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $519,533,000 after buying an additional 236,118 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in MarketAxess by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,113,308 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $251,106,000 after buying an additional 36,431 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in MarketAxess by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,044,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $236,067,000 after buying an additional 115,186 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in MarketAxess by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 397,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,934,000 after buying an additional 25,763 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $207.75 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $186.84 and a one year high of $296.68. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $217.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $214.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.79 billion, a PE ratio of 36.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.84.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.57% and a return on equity of 19.93%. The business had revenue of $208.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.81 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.92 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on MKTX. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $295.00 price target on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $283.00 to $274.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $204.00 price target (up previously from $202.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 20th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $240.00 to $237.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $240.67.

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.