Koss Olinger Consulting LLC Invests $1.91 Million in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Koss Olinger Consulting LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 9,544 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,914,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in MarketAxess by 155.8% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 2,428.6% during the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 405.1% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC boosted its position in MarketAxess by 47.4% in the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $256.85 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.72, a PEG ratio of 5.69 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $226.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $215.38. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $192.42 and a 1 year high of $297.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.91 and a quick ratio of 2.91.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $197.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $198.07 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.43% and a net margin of 33.71%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.05 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.47%.

MarketAxess declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MKTX shares. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on MarketAxess from $218.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.60.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.63, for a total value of $142,915.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,716,146.67. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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.