Allianz Asset Management GmbH Lowers Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Allianz Asset Management GmbH cut its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 28.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 977 shares during the quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $551,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MKTX. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 20.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $183,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 23.8% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $725,000 after acquiring an additional 643 shares during the last quarter. Hixon Zuercher LLC increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 19.4% during the first quarter. Hixon Zuercher LLC now owns 10,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,311,000 after acquiring an additional 1,739 shares during the last quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 6.8% during the first quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 2,458 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $532,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elevate Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the first quarter valued at approximately $971,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on MKTX. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Barclays decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $200.00 to $186.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $255.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Argus raised MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $212.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $216.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 owned 67,681 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 1,600 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.59, for a total value of $298,544.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 43,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,062,180.72. This represents a 3.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.66% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MarketAxess stock opened at $167.55 on Tuesday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $161.61 and a one year high of $296.68. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $178.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $202.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.21, a PEG ratio of 6.91 and a beta of 0.89.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.06. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 26.62%.The firm had revenue of $219.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Company 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.