California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 24,664 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 25.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 72,522 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 24,664 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.21% of MarketAxess worth $11,965,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 200.0% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 280 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 29.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 401 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $116.69 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $108.75 and a fifty-two week high of $214.42. The company has a quick ratio of 2.17, a current ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a market cap of $4.15 billion, a PE ratio of 13.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $120.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $153.10.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 35.53%.The business had revenue of $233.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.87 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MKTX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $195.00 to $129.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $195.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $168.00 to $130.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $163.18.

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates a leading global electronic trading platform specializing in fixed-income securities and related products. The company's network enables institutional investors and broker-dealers to trade corporate bonds, municipal securities, emerging markets debt, U.S. Treasuries and credit default swaps in an automated, multi-dealer environment. MarketAxess also offers portfolio trading, data analytics, best-execution tools and post-trade services to streamline workflows and enhance price discovery across its marketplace.

In addition to core voice-like trading protocols, MarketAxess provides Open Trading®, an anonymous, all-to-all trading protocol designed to improve liquidity and transaction efficiency.

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