Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Buys 6,810 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 74.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,012 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,810 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $2,641,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MKTX. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 6.3% in the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,592 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $428,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 351.5% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 10,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,673,000 after buying an additional 7,894 shares during the period. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in MarketAxess by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,544 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,740,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in MarketAxess by 638.7% in the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 21,009 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,472,000 after buying an additional 18,165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in MarketAxess in the 1st quarter valued at $262,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $114.87 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.58, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.88. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $108.75 and a one year high of $217.51. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $125.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $156.69. 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) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $233.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.91 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.53% and a return on equity of 22.28%. The business’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 EPS. Analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MKTX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $195.00 target price for the company. UBS Group lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Argus cut MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $195.00 to $129.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $167.45.

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.