Mediolanum International Funds Ltd Purchases New Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,369 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $982,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $501,907,000 after acquiring an additional 291,134 shares during the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter worth $42,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,076,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $275,122,000 after acquiring an additional 139,949 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter worth $30,229,000. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 42.1% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 393,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,911,000 after acquiring an additional 116,607 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MarketAxess news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total value of $2,676,700.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 562,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,438,302.43. This trade represents a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MKTX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $255.00 to $251.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $267.00.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX opened at $220.63 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $232.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $247.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 1.03. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $192.42 and a 52-week high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.25 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.