BNP Paribas Financial Markets Buys 21,936 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 47.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 68,364 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,936 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in MarketAxess were worth $17,515,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 2,889.6% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 339,261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $68,032,000 after purchasing an additional 327,913 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 17.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $501,907,000 after acquiring an additional 291,134 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in MarketAxess by 53.5% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 820,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $164,447,000 after acquiring an additional 285,665 shares during the period. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 120.6% during the second quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 393,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,823,000 after acquiring an additional 214,928 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 18.2% during the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,330,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $266,881,000 after purchasing an additional 204,960 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com raised MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $267.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly 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 the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Down 1.2 %

MKTX stock opened at $258.69 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $273.49 and a 200-day moving average of $239.58. The firm has a market cap of $9.75 billion, a PE ratio of 35.05, a P/E/G ratio of 11.75 and a beta of 1.05. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $192.42 and a 12-month high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The business’s revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 40.11%.

MarketAxess announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, August 6th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.