Teacher Retirement System of Texas Increases Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 1.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,558 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 314 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned approximately 0.08% of MarketAxess worth $6,601,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 200.0% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the second quarter worth about $37,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 51.2% in the second quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 173.0% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 96.7% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 1,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.59, for a total transaction of $298,544.00. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 1,494 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 67,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,542,642.92. This represents a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.65% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Piper Sandler set a $180.00 price target on MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Loop Capital set a $164.00 price objective on MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Zacks Research lowered shares of MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Argus raised shares of MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $212.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, August 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $216.58.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $159.98 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $158.28 and a 12-month high of $292.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.44 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $177.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $201.73.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $219.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.05 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About MarketAxess

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.