Bayforest Capital Ltd Purchases 3,314 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 6,904.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,362 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,314 shares during the quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd's holdings in MarketAxess were worth $727,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. Norges Bank bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter worth $119,095,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,300,536 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $520,013,000 after acquiring an additional 341,493 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 worth $519,533,000 after acquiring an additional 236,118 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter worth $46,079,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 25,960.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 183,465 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $39,693,000 after acquiring an additional 182,761 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MKTX shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MarketAxess from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Sunday, July 20th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $295.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $283.00 to $274.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, William Blair initiated coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Friday, April 4th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $240.67.

MarketAxess Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of MKTX stock traded up $2.92 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $210.09. 471,191 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 324,994. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $186.84 and a 12 month high of $296.68. The company has a market cap of $7.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.85. The company's 50-day moving average price is $218.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $214.61.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.57% and a return on equity of 19.93%. The firm had revenue of $208.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $211.81 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.92 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Company 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.