Stiles Financial Services Inc Purchases 431 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Stiles Financial Services Inc raised its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the period. Stiles Financial Services Inc’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,522,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 179.5% during the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at $54,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $201.37 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $226.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $247.22. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $192.42 and a 12 month high of $296.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.59 billion, a PE ratio of 27.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a $0.76 dividend. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 40.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total value of $2,676,700.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 562,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,438,302.43. The trade was a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,300 shares of company stock worth $8,183,871 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on MKTX. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $257.33.

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.