Barclays PLC Sells 12,009 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Barclays PLC decreased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 8.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 128,751 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 12,009 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.34% of MarketAxess worth $29,101,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 179.5% in the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Allianz SE acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 13,900.0% in 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 lifted its position in MarketAxess by 185.7% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 160 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on MKTX. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. 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 report on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of MarketAxess from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, William Blair started coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Friday, April 4th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $252.11.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX traded up $1.75 on Thursday, reaching $219.34. 154,392 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 487,827. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $209.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $233.37. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $186.84 and a 52-week high of $296.68. The company has a market cap of $8.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.21, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12.

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

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.