MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX Shares Sold by Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS

Key Points

• Kornitzer Capital cut its MarketAxess stake by 83.3% in Q4 (sold 6,560 shares), leaving 1,314 shares worth $238K, even as several large institutions (Primecap, VanEck, State Street, AQR, North Reef) materially increased positions — institutional investors own about 99.01% of the stock.
• MarketAxess missed quarterly estimates (EPS $1.68 vs. $1.72; revenue $209.4M vs. $214.1M) despite 3.5% YoY revenue growth; the stock opened near its 1‑year low and the consensus analyst rating is Hold with an average price target of $201.11.

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS trimmed its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 83.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,314 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 6,560 shares during the quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS's holdings in MarketAxess were worth $238,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its stake in MarketAxess by 66.6% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,230,595 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $388,681,000 after purchasing an additional 891,303 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in MarketAxess by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,948,633 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $339,549,000 after purchasing an additional 119,036 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in MarketAxess by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,532,696 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $342,312,000 after purchasing an additional 67,290 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in MarketAxess by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 951,088 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $165,727,000 after purchasing an additional 192,626 shares in the last quarter. Finally, North Reef Capital Management LP grew its stake in MarketAxess by 117.0% during the 3rd quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 911,358 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $158,804,000 after purchasing an additional 491,358 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $152.87 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $173.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $172.37. The stock has a market cap of $5.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.92. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $152.76 and a 1 year high of $232.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a current ratio of 2.80.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $209.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $214.06 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.88% and a net margin of 29.14%.The company's revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.73 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on MKTX shares. Argus cut MarketAxess from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Barclays lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $182.00 to $178.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $195.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $195.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $201.11.

MarketAxess Profile

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.

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.