Hsbc Holdings PLC Sells 1,795,922 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Hsbc Holdings PLC lessened its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 99.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,795,922 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $517,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 3,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $614,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC raised its position in MarketAxess by 1.7% during the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 4,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $939,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 200.0% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 7,181 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,302,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 12,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,182,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX stock opened at $115.50 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.65, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $123.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $155.74. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $108.75 and a 12-month high of $216.18.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 35.53%.The company had revenue of $233.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $231.91 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.87 earnings per share. MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Rothschild & Co Redburn reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $134.00 price objective (down from $189.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $195.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler reduced 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. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $168.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $163.18.

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.