Rep. Julie Johnson Purchases Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Representative Julie Johnson (D-Texas) recently bought shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX). In a filing disclosed on February 12th, the Representative disclosed that they had bought between $1,001 and $15,000 in MarketAxess stock on January 15th. The trade occurred in the Representative’s “MERRILL LYNCH TAX EFFICIENT CORE” account.

Representative Julie Johnson also recently made the following trade(s):

• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) on 1/28/2025.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) on 1/28/2025.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) on 1/28/2025.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) on 1/28/2025.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) on 1/27/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Progressive (NYSE:PGR) on 1/24/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) on 1/24/2025.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Chubb (NYSE:CB) on 1/24/2025.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) on 1/24/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) on 1/17/2025.

MarketAxess Stock Down 0.8 %

MarketAxess stock opened at $191.42 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $222.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $246.46. The firm has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a PE ratio of 26.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $188.88 and a 52-week high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.72%.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In related news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MKTX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.78.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,434,946 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,002,475,000 after purchasing an additional 90,805 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in MarketAxess by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,300,536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $520,013,000 after acquiring an additional 341,493 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $452,246,000 after acquiring an additional 236,497 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,369,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $309,472,000 after purchasing an additional 30,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,113,308 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $251,106,000 after purchasing an additional 36,431 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

About Representative Johnson

Julie Johnson (Democratic Party) is a member of the U.S. House, representing Texas’ 32nd Congressional District. She assumed office on January 3, 2025. Her current term ends on January 3, 2027.

Johnson (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Texas’ 32nd Congressional District. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Julie Johnson earned a B.A. in history and government from the University of Texas at Austin in 1987 and a J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center in 1991. Johnson’s career experience includes working as an attorney.

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.