Congress Asset Management Co. Sells 55,462 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Congress Asset Management Co. decreased its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 16.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 286,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 55,462 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $63,937,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 200.0% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 49.1% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 57.4% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in MarketAxess in the 1st quarter worth about $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MKTX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $204.00 target price (up previously from $202.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Argus raised MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $212.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $283.00 to $274.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $237.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $228.09.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 1,600 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.59, for a total value of $298,544.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 43,208 shares in the company, valued at $8,062,180.72. The trade was a 3.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 1,494 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.32, for a total transaction of $276,868.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive owned 67,681 shares in the company, valued at $12,542,642.92. This represents a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $178.17 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $191.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $209.08. The firm has a market cap of $6.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.88. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $176.57 and a 12 month high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $219.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.05 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.62% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.72 EPS. Analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.18%.

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.