abrdn plc Sells 7,492 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

abrdn plc cut its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 71.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,057 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,492 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $782,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,142 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $250,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 2,428.6% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the period. Geneva Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 5,921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,298,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 174.2% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,478,000 after acquiring an additional 4,284 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 18.0% during the 1st quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 1,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $334,000 after acquiring an additional 232 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $287.60 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.91, a current ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $192.42 and a twelve month high of $297.97. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $266.65 and its 200-day moving average is $231.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.44, a PEG ratio of 9.10 and a beta of 1.05.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $197.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $198.07 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.43% and a net margin of 33.71%. MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, August 6th that authorizes the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other MarketAxess news, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.63, for a total transaction of $142,915.71. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,409 shares in the company, valued at $1,716,146.67. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on MarketAxess from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued 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 target price of $253.30.

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.