MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Bought by Islay Capital Management LLC

Islay Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 84.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,342 shares during the period. Islay Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $857,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 146.4% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,265,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $270,422,000 after purchasing an additional 752,111 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 385.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 545,563 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $116,554,000 after acquiring an additional 433,217 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 156.4% in the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 210,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,893,000 after acquiring an additional 128,193 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 26.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 539,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $115,169,000 after acquiring an additional 113,642 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 97.0% in the 3rd quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 170,285 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,380,000 after acquiring an additional 83,864 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.26, for a total transaction of $442,520.00. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 70,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,508,555.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MKTX. Bank of America began coverage on MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $263.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays cut their price target on MarketAxess from $239.00 to $236.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $252.80.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX traded down $2.94 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $201.16. 126,148 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 414,292. The stock has a market cap of $7.56 billion, a PE ratio of 29.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s fifty day moving average is $214.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $236.38. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $199.34 and a fifty-two week high of $322.25.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $197.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $196.70 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 21.76% and a net margin of 34.29%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.58 EPS. Research analysts forecast 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.