World Investment Advisors Lowers Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

World Investment Advisors trimmed its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 20.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 381 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in MarketAxess were worth $325,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 329.4% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 618,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $133,904,000 after purchasing an additional 474,776 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 999.6% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 222,342 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,104,000 after buying an additional 202,121 shares in the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 64.8% during the 1st quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 402,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $87,083,000 after acquiring an additional 158,240 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in MarketAxess during the first quarter valued at $26,786,000. Finally, NFJ Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 89.0% in the 1st quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC now owns 229,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,709,000 after acquiring an additional 108,219 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In related news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 1,494 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.32, for a total value of $276,868.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive directly owned 67,681 shares in the company, valued at $12,542,642.92. The trade was a 2.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 1,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.59, for a total transaction of $298,544.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.65% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MKTX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $200.00 to $186.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on MarketAxess from $274.00 to $253.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Zacks Research downgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $216.58.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $159.16 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $175.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $200.52. The firm has a market cap of $5.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.79, a PEG ratio of 6.44 and a beta of 0.89. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $156.17 and a one year high of $290.69.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $218.05 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.72 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.