abrdn plc Acquires 6,555 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

abrdn plc lifted its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 69.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,984 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,555 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $4,681,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 347.6% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 39.6% during the third quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP now owns 134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 47.3% during the fourth quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth $57,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MKTX stock opened at $201.79 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $214.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $236.62. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $199.34 and a 52 week high of $322.25. The company has a market capitalization of $7.59 billion, a PE ratio of 29.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MarketAxess news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.26, for a total value of $442,520.00. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 70,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,508,555.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MKTX. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $239.00 to $236.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $263.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $250.00 to $237.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 12th. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $229.00 to $210.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $252.80.

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.