MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Acquired by Tandem Investment Advisors Inc.

Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 1.7% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 220,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,738 shares during the period. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $44,290,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in MarketAxess by 10.3% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,828,055 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $366,580,000 after acquiring an additional 170,095 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter worth $881,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter worth about $230,000. Hixon Zuercher LLC raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 29.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hixon Zuercher LLC now owns 11,257 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,257,000 after buying an additional 2,578 shares during the period. Finally, Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co lifted its position in MarketAxess by 33.6% in the second quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 9,935 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,992,000 after buying an additional 2,501 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on MarketAxess from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $238.60.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

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

MarketAxess Stock Down 1.5 %

MKTX traded down $3.64 on Friday, hitting $242.39. 394,161 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 354,188. The company has a current ratio of 2.91, a quick ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market cap of $9.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.69 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $221.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $214.32. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $192.42 and a twelve month high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $197.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $198.07 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.43% and a net margin of 33.71%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.05 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.47%.

MarketAxess declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.