Hixon Zuercher LLC Has $2.26 Million Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Hixon Zuercher LLC grew its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 29.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,257 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,578 shares during the quarter. Hixon Zuercher LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $2,257,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 30.3% during the first quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 2,425,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $531,878,000 after buying an additional 564,820 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at $128,535,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 21.2% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,657,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $363,508,000 after acquiring an additional 290,347 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its stake in MarketAxess by 40.0% in the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 716,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $157,134,000 after buying an additional 204,660 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position in MarketAxess by 7,385.0% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 159,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,733,000 after acquiring an additional 157,448 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total value of $99,740.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,034,895.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other MarketAxess news, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.63, for a total transaction of $142,915.71. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,716,146.67. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total transaction of $99,740.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,034,895.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MKTX shares. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $218.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $238.60.

MarketAxess Trading Down 1.5 %

MKTX stock opened at $242.39 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.59, a PEG ratio of 5.69 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $221.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $214.32. The company has a quick ratio of 2.91, a current ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $192.42 and a 52-week high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $197.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $198.07 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.43% and a net margin of 33.71%. The business’s revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan 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 reacquire up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.47%.

MarketAxess 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.