MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Bought by UniSuper Management Pty Ltd

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 730.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,599 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,045 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,008,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MKTX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,539,440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $995,272,000 after buying an additional 13,018 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 21.2% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,657,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $363,508,000 after acquiring an additional 290,347 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,122,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $328,742,000 after acquiring an additional 4,340 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 40.0% during the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 716,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $157,134,000 after acquiring an additional 204,660 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $128,535,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Barclays dropped their price objective 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. Bank of America initiated coverage on MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $241.00.

MarketAxess Stock Up 1.5 %

MarketAxess stock traded up $3.33 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $221.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 12,449 shares, compared to its average volume of 423,114. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $192.42 and a 12 month high of $297.97. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $206.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $218.24. The company has a market capitalization of $8.39 billion, a PE ratio of 32.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 1.03.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.07. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.83% and a return on equity of 20.82%. The business had revenue of $210.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.96 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.01 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were given a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 21st. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,034,895.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.