Quest Partners LLC Trims Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Quest Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 21.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,526 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 424 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $391,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. increased its position in MarketAxess by 2.9% during the second quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 1,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $314,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in MarketAxess by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 15,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,953,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in 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. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in MarketAxess by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 5,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,287,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MKTX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup boosted their price target on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays upped their target price on MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $267.50.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.0 %

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $260.35 on Monday. 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 $9.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.28, a PEG ratio of 11.69 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $273.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $238.10.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The business had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 40.11%.

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

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total transaction of $5,435,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 592,029 shares in the company, valued at $160,883,880.75. This represents a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

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.