Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 258.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 184,857 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 133,260 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $32,211,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 485.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 758,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $167,195,000 after buying an additional 628,954 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in MarketAxess in the second quarter worth approximately $114,593,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 119.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 487,197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $108,811,000 after purchasing an additional 264,855 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 181.2% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 250,037 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,843,000 after acquiring an additional 161,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 535.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 108,481 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,228,000 after purchasing an additional 91,419 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $162.83 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.17 and a 1-year high of $232.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $173.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $177.88. The firm has a market cap of $6.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $209.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $214.06 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.20% and a net margin of 26.16%. As a group, analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MKTX. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $188.00 to $182.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Loop Capital set a $164.00 price target on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 17th. Four equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $201.64.

MarketAxess Company Profile

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates a leading global electronic trading platform specializing in fixed-income securities and related products. The company’s network enables institutional investors and broker-dealers to trade corporate bonds, municipal securities, emerging markets debt, U.S. Treasuries and credit default swaps in an automated, multi-dealer environment. MarketAxess also offers portfolio trading, data analytics, best-execution tools and post-trade services to streamline workflows and enhance price discovery across its marketplace.

In addition to core voice-like trading protocols, MarketAxess provides Open Trading®, an anonymous, all-to-all trading protocol designed to improve liquidity and transaction efficiency.