Russell Investments Group Ltd. Boosts Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 81.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 56,878 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 25,572 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $16,672,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lifted its position in MarketAxess by 11.3% in the third quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 9,320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,991,000 after purchasing an additional 944 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 9,742 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,081,000 after buying an additional 409 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 0.9% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 156,019 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,332,000 after buying an additional 1,426 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 19.8% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 418,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,324,000 after acquiring an additional 69,165 shares during the period. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the third quarter worth $134,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MarketAxess news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 2,000 shares of the company’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 in the company, valued at approximately $15,508,555.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MKTX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $263.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. 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. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 target price on the stock. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $239.00 to $236.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 8th. Two equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $252.80.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MKTX stock opened at $203.82 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $213.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $235.45. The firm has a market cap of $7.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.75, a PEG ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.98. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $199.33 and a 1 year high of $303.85.

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

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.