NFJ Investment Group LLC Has $34.07 Million Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

NFJ Investment Group LLC trimmed its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 2.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 132,985 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,048 shares during the quarter. MarketAxess comprises about 1.0% of NFJ Investment Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. NFJ Investment Group LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $34,071,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at $1,966,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 207.3% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,100,000 after purchasing an additional 9,539 shares during the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 25.6% in the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 15,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,926,000 after purchasing an additional 3,121 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 22.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 55,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,265,000 after purchasing an additional 10,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van Berkom & Associates Inc. boosted its position in MarketAxess by 1.5% in the second quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 164,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,913,000 after purchasing an additional 2,485 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 592,029 shares in the company, valued at $160,883,880.75. The trade was a 3.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MKTX. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $267.50.

MarketAxess Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of MKTX stock traded down $0.64 on Tuesday, reaching $262.83. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 35,660 shares, compared to its average volume of 402,898. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $192.42 and a 12-month high of $297.97. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $273.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $240.32. The company has a market capitalization of $9.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.70, a PEG ratio of 11.62 and a beta of 1.00.

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

MarketAxess declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 40.11%.

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.