MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) General Counsel Sells 100 Shares of Stock

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.65, for a total value of $16,465.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,874,704.90. The trade was a 0.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Scott Pintoff also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, September 10th, Scott Pintoff sold 100 shares of MarketAxess stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.32, for a total transaction of $16,332.00.
• On Monday, August 10th, Scott Pintoff sold 100 shares of MarketAxess stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $16,260.00.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX stock traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $164.45. The stock had a trading volume of 567,014 shares, compared to its average volume of 748,168. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $108.75 and a 52-week high of $195.96. The company has a market cap of $5.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $146.95.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.48% and a net margin of 35.22%. The business had revenue of $218.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $216.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.00 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were paid a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on MKTX. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $129.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays increased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $132.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $167.00 price target (up from $150.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. William Blair lowered shares of MarketAxess from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group cut MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $159.90.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Westpac Banking Corp purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the first quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 215.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the second quarter worth approximately $49,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 58.6% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 1,047.6% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates an electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities. Its marketplace connects institutional investors, asset managers, broker-dealers and other market participants, enabling them to trade corporate bonds, emerging-market debt, government securities and other credit products electronically.

The company’s services include automated trading tools, request-for-quote workflows and its Open Trading marketplace, which brings together liquidity from a broad network of institutional participants.