Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires Shares of 2,300 MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $674,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at $268,000. Stiles Financial Services Inc lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 71.8% in the 4th quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 3,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $919,000 after buying an additional 1,311 shares during the last quarter. Tobam lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 34.2% in the 4th quarter. Tobam now owns 60,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,634,000 after buying an additional 15,361 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 28,547.8% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 13,178 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,859,000 after buying an additional 13,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Equitable Trust Co. bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter worth about $276,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MKTX opened at $201.79 on Monday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $199.34 and a one year high of $322.25. The company has a 50-day moving average of $214.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $236.64. The stock has a market cap of $7.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.46, a PEG ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.98.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $197.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 period last year, the company posted $1.58 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MKTX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $250.00 to $237.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 12th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $229.00 to $210.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $263.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $252.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 directly owns 70,092 shares in the company, valued at $15,508,555.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MarketAxess 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.