Bayforest Capital Ltd Trims Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Bayforest Capital Ltd lowered its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 41.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,392 shares during the quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $440,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 20.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $183,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $678,000 after buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in MarketAxess by 23.8% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $725,000 after buying an additional 643 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its stake in MarketAxess by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 4,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $955,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 9.2% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 23,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,068,000 after acquiring an additional 1,980 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $171.08 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $6.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.80, a PEG ratio of 6.88 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $181.73 and its 200 day moving average is $205.27. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $161.61 and a 1-year high of $296.68.

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. The company had revenue of $219.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.05 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.62% and a return on equity of 20.41%. MarketAxess’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.72 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In related news, 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 transaction, the director directly owned 43,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,062,180.72. This represents a 3.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 1,494 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive owned 67,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,542,642.92. This trade represents a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Loop Capital set a $164.00 target price on MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group cut their price target on MarketAxess from $255.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $274.00 to $253.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $216.58.

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.