Short Interest in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Drops By 17.3%

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totaling 2,278,747 shares, a decline of 17.3% from the December 15th total of 2,756,858 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 688,050 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days. Currently, 6.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Currently, 6.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 688,050 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 393.0% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 98,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,948,000 after buying an additional 78,336 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 16.4% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 19,734 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,334,000 after buying an additional 2,784 shares in the last quarter. Ethic Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 190.6% during the second quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 3,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $682,000 after buying an additional 2,036 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the second quarter worth about $866,000. Finally, Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 238.1% in the 2nd quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 3,888 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $868,000 after acquiring an additional 2,738 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MarketAxess stock traded down $3.67 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $172.42. 164,231 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 651,725. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $173.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $181.77. The stock has a market cap of $6.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.32, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.97. MarketAxess has a 12 month low of $156.17 and a 12 month high of $232.84.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.15. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.20% and a net margin of 26.16%.The company had revenue of $208.82 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.59 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that MarketAxess will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on MKTX shares. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Loop Capital set a $164.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $201.64.

MarketAxess Company Profile

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.