MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Chairman Richard M. Mcvey Sells 20,000 Shares

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total value of $5,435,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 592,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $160,883,880.75. This trade represents a 3.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MarketAxess stock traded down $1.01 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $263.97. 26,501 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 405,128. The company has a market cap of $9.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.06 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $272.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $235.13. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $192.42 and a 52 week high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

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

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

MKTX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $267.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,539,440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $995,272,000 after acquiring an additional 13,018 shares in the last quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 30.3% during the 1st quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 2,425,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $531,878,000 after acquiring an additional 564,820 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in MarketAxess by 17.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $501,907,000 after buying an additional 291,134 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in MarketAxess by 10.3% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,828,055 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $366,580,000 after buying an additional 170,095 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its position in MarketAxess by 0.6% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,338,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $343,032,000 after buying an additional 8,042 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% 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.