Insider Selling: MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) General Counsel Sells 300 Shares of Stock

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % 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 Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $240.97 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $9.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.78 and a beta of 1.00. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $192.42 and a 52-week high of $297.97. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $272.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $241.41.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.11%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at about $1,966,000. Geneva Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 15,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,926,000 after acquiring an additional 3,121 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 22.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 55,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,265,000 after acquiring an additional 10,361 shares in the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 164,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,913,000 after acquiring an additional 2,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 82,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,237,000 after acquiring an additional 20,334 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MKTX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Two equities research 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, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $266.70.

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.