MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Sold by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has reduced its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. by 46.3% during the first quarter, now owning approximately 0.09% of the company, valued at $7.31 million.
• Other institutional investors have increased their stakes in MarketAxess, with FMR LLC raising its position by 17.4%, now owning over 2.3 million shares valued at roughly $520 million.
• MarketAxess reported a quarterly EPS of $1.87, exceeding estimates, despite a 0.8% decline in revenue year-over-year, indicating mixed financial performance.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 46.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,797 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 29,136 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of MarketAxess worth $7,312,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,300,536 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $520,013,000 after buying an additional 341,493 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 11.4% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 236,118 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,113,308 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $251,106,000 after buying an additional 36,431 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,044,360 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $236,067,000 after buying an additional 115,186 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 397,867 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $89,934,000 after buying an additional 25,763 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $283.00 to $274.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $204.00 price target (up previously from $202.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $295.00 price target on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $240.67.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MarketAxess stock traded down $18.67 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $189.14. 1,270,068 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 579,140. The business has a fifty day moving average of $217.32 and a 200 day moving average of $214.24. The firm has a market cap of $7.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.83, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.84. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $186.84 and a 12-month high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.09. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 19.93% and a net margin of 26.57%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current 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.