MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Position Lifted by AQR Capital Management LLC

AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 526.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 94,205 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 79,178 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.25% of MarketAxess worth $21,294,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 179.5% during the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Allianz SE acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 495.2% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 13,900.0% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank increased its position in MarketAxess by 185.7% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 160 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MKTX. William Blair initiated coverage on MarketAxess in a research report on Friday, April 4th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. 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. UBS Group cut their target price on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Barclays lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $252.11.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX traded down $0.86 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $228.03. 514,827 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 491,546. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $186.84 and a fifty-two week high of $296.68. The company has a market cap of $8.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.37, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.89. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $215.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $229.29.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. The company had revenue of $208.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.81 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.92 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current 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.