MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Sold by Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co

Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co cut its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,655 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 649 shares during the period. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $2,182,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 0.3% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 15,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,953,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in MarketAxess by 1.0% in the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 5,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,287,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its position in MarketAxess by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in MarketAxess by 4.0% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its position in MarketAxess by 179.5% in the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Trading Up 1.2 %

MarketAxess stock opened at $196.60 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $214.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $244.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.02. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $186.84 and a twelve month high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. Sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is presently 41.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group cut their target price on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays cut their target price on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One research analyst has 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 MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.78.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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.