Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. Acquires Shares of 5,868 MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 5,868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,503,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 405.1% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 47.4% in the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at $54,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were 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 owns 592,029 shares of the company’s stock, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Down 1.2 %

MKTX opened at $258.69 on Monday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $192.42 and a twelve month high of $297.97. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $273.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $239.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.05, a P/E/G ratio of 11.62 and a beta of 1.05.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. The business had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. MarketAxess’s revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.14%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MKTX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $267.50.

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.