Barclays PLC Boosts Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 16.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 140,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 19,962 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $36,063,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 405.1% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 0.4% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 202,201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,547,000 after acquiring an additional 789 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,479,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter worth $1,540,000. Finally, Access Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 32.3% in the 2nd quarter. Access Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $754,000 after purchasing an additional 917 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 592,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,883,880.75. This represents a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871 in the last quarter. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MarketAxess Trading Down 1.0 %

MarketAxess stock opened at $233.73 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $270.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $241.60. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $192.42 and a 52 week high of $297.97. The stock has a market cap of $8.81 billion, a PE ratio of 31.67, a P/E/G ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 1.00.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.38 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were issued a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on MKTX. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.