MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX Shares Bought by North Reef Capital Management LP

Key Points

• North Reef Capital Management LP boosted its MarketAxess stake by 16.5% in the first quarter, buying 265,670 additional shares and bringing its total to 1.875 million shares. The position was valued at about $309.3 million and made up 10.6% of the fund’s portfolio.
• Other institutional investors also added to MKTX, and the stock is now 99.01% owned by institutions. Several funds increased holdings, including Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund, which raised its stake by 374.5%.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: MarketAxess has a Hold consensus rating with an average price target of $163.18. The stock recently traded up 2.1% to $116.69, while the company’s latest earnings beat expectations with $2.25 EPS and 11.9% revenue growth year over year.

North Reef Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 16.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,875,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 265,670 shares during the quarter. MarketAxess accounts for about 10.6% of North Reef Capital Management LP's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. North Reef Capital Management LP owned about 5.28% of MarketAxess worth $309,338,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MKTX. Waverly Advisors LLC lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 16.1% in the 1st quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 3,366 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $555,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares in the last quarter. Van Den Berg Management I Inc. grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Van Den Berg Management I Inc. now owns 31,423 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,184,000 after acquiring an additional 1,024 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 1st quarter worth approximately $527,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 374.5% in the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 145,628 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $24,026,000 after purchasing an additional 114,934 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 4.4% in the first quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 13,269 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,189,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on MKTX shares. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MarketAxess from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $170.00 to $132.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $175.00 to $128.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $195.00 price objective for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $163.18.

MarketAxess Trading Up 2.1%

MKTX stock opened at $116.69 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $108.75 and a one year high of $214.42. The stock has a market cap of $4.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $120.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $153.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.17 and a quick ratio of 2.17.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $233.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $231.91 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.53% and a return on equity of 22.28%. The company's revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.87 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MKTX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.