Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Has $3 Million Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lessened its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 62.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,250 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 22,300 shares during the quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C.'s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $2,995,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,434,946 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,002,475,000 after purchasing an additional 90,805 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in MarketAxess by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,300,536 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $520,013,000 after purchasing an additional 341,493 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,298,409 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $519,533,000 after purchasing an additional 236,118 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $452,246,000 after purchasing an additional 236,497 shares during the period. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA grew its position in MarketAxess by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,369,102 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $309,472,000 after acquiring an additional 30,180 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MKTX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. William Blair started coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Friday, April 4th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Barclays upped their price objective on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of MarketAxess from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $220.00 to $213.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $252.11.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX traded up $1.71 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $225.68. The company had a trading volume of 366,359 shares, compared to its average volume of 491,364. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $186.84 and a 12-month high of $296.68. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $213.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $230.59. The company has a market capitalization of $8.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.04, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. Sell-side analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share 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.