Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Buys 6,684 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 218.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,684 shares during the period. Lecap Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $2,201,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 15,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,953,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 5,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,287,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 4.0% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $376,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its stake in MarketAxess by 179.5% during the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $673,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $255.00 to $251.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $260.00 to $256.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $267.00.

MarketAxess Stock Up 1.6 %

MKTX opened at $201.31 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $227.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $246.99. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $192.42 and a 52-week high of $296.68. The company has a market cap of $7.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.28, a PEG ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.02.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. On average, research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.25 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 562,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,438,302.43. The trade was a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Company 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.