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 business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total value of $5,435,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 592,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,883,880.75. This trade represents a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ MKTX traded down $2.15 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $264.98. 287,391 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 406,868. The company has a market cap of $9.99 billion, a PE ratio of 36.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.27 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $272.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $234.92. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.17 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

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

MarketAxess declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, August 6th that permits the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 174.2% during the first 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 during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 48.4% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 11,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,547,000 after buying an additional 3,787 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the first quarter worth about $882,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $9,031,000 after buying an additional 3,603 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the first quarter worth about $7,866,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MKTX. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup increased their price target on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group raised their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays raised their price target on MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.