MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX Holdings Lifted by Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 74.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,012 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,810 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $2,641,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,592 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $428,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 351.5% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 10,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,673,000 after purchasing an additional 7,894 shares in the last quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 2.1% during the first quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,544 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,740,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 638.7% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 21,009 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,472,000 after purchasing an additional 18,165 shares during the period. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the first quarter valued at approximately $262,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $114.87 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.17, a current ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.08 billion, a PE ratio of 13.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.88. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $108.75 and a 12-month high of $217.51. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $125.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $156.69.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.53% and a return on equity of 22.28%. The company had revenue of $233.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $231.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.87 EPS. MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MKTX shares. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Argus downgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $170.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $167.45.

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates a leading global electronic trading platform specializing in fixed-income securities and related products. The company’s network enables institutional investors and broker-dealers to trade corporate bonds, municipal securities, emerging markets debt, U.S. Treasuries and credit default swaps in an automated, multi-dealer environment. MarketAxess also offers portfolio trading, data analytics, best-execution tools and post-trade services to streamline workflows and enhance price discovery across its marketplace.

In addition to core voice-like trading protocols, MarketAxess provides Open Trading®, an anonymous, all-to-all trading protocol designed to improve liquidity and transaction efficiency.