Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Acquires New Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,142 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $258,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MKTX. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 555.6% in the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 160.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.5 %

MKTX opened at $217.82 on Thursday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $192.42 and a 1-year high of $296.68. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $242.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $246.20. The stock has a market cap of $8.21 billion, a PE ratio of 29.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.03.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The business had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MKTX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays decreased 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. Citigroup upped their price target on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $255.00 to $251.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $261.30.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 562,029 shares in the company, valued at $150,438,302.43. This trade represents a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 30,300 shares of company stock worth $8,183,871. Company 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.