MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Chairman Sells $5,435,000.00 in Stock

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chairman now owns 592,029 shares in the company, valued at $160,883,880.75. The trade was a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX traded down $1.01 during trading on Friday, reaching $263.97. 26,501 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 405,128. The business’s fifty day moving average is $272.39 and its 200-day moving average is $235.13. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $192.42 and a 52-week high of $297.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.91, a P/E/G ratio of 12.06 and a beta of 1.05.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.17 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.12%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.11%.

MarketAxess declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MKTX. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 4,284 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 48.4% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 11,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,547,000 after purchasing an additional 3,787 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the first quarter valued at approximately $882,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in MarketAxess by 9.6% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 41,191 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,031,000 after acquiring an additional 3,603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the first quarter valued at approximately $7,866,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MKTX. Morgan Stanley upped their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $267.50.

About MarketAxess

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.