Yousif Capital Management LLC Cuts Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Yousif Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 1.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 70 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,010,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the first quarter valued at $280,000. Wilson Asset Management International PTY Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 26.6% in the first quarter. Wilson Asset Management International PTY Ltd. now owns 60,492 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,087,000 after purchasing an additional 12,697 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 210.8% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,764,000 after purchasing an additional 11,801 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the first quarter valued at $543,000. Finally, Ground Swell Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the first quarter valued at $362,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Trading Up 1.2%

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $172.93 on Wednesday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $161.61 and a twelve month high of $296.68. The company has a market cap of $6.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.90 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $180.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $203.78.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.06. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 26.62%.The business had revenue of $219.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.05 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MKTX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler set a $180.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $274.00 to $253.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Loop Capital set a $164.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $216.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 1,494 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.32, for a total transaction of $276,868.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive directly owned 67,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,542,642.92. This trade represents a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 1,600 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.59, for a total value of $298,544.00. Following the sale, the director owned 43,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,062,180.72. This trade represents a 3.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.