MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Short Interest Update

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totaling 2,278,747 shares, a drop of 17.3% from the December 15th total of 2,756,858 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 688,050 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.3 days. Approximately 6.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Approximately 6.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 688,050 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.3 days.

MarketAxess Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $172.48 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.97. MarketAxess has a twelve month low of $156.17 and a twelve month high of $232.84. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $173.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $181.42.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.15. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 20.20%. The firm had revenue of $208.82 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.59 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.90 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MarketAxess will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on MKTX. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 9th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $201.64.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 66.6% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,230,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $388,681,000 after acquiring an additional 891,303 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in MarketAxess by 6.5% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,948,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $339,549,000 after purchasing an additional 119,036 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in MarketAxess by 4.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,532,696 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $342,312,000 after purchasing an additional 67,290 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in MarketAxess by 0.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,141,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $254,460,000 after purchasing an additional 6,448 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in MarketAxess by 25.4% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 951,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $165,727,000 after buying an additional 192,626 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

About MarketAxess

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.