Hantz Financial Services Inc. Grows Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 158,957.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 30,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 30,202 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $6,831,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at $54,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its position in MarketAxess by 555.6% during the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MarketAxess stock opened at $218.99 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $233.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $247.55. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $192.42 and a 1 year high of $296.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.67, a P/E/G ratio of 4.58 and a beta of 1.03.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.25 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MKTX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $255.00 to $251.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $260.00 to $256.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup lifted their price target 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, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $261.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MarketAxess news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total transaction of $5,435,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 592,029 shares in the company, valued at $160,883,880.75. This trade represents a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871 in the last 90 days. 2.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

MarketAxess 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.