Prana Capital Management LP Sells 5,564 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Prana Capital Management LP trimmed its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 54.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,701 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,564 shares during the quarter. Prana Capital Management LP’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,204,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the second quarter worth about $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 worth $43,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter worth about $54,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 555.6% in the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MKTX shares. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective 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. Barclays upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $267.50.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In related news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total value of $2,676,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 562,029 shares in the company, valued at $150,438,302.43. This trade represents a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $262.79 on Wednesday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $192.42 and a 52 week high of $297.97. The company’s 50 day moving average is $273.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $240.66. The company has a market cap of $9.91 billion, a PE ratio of 35.61, a P/E/G ratio of 11.83 and a beta of 1.00.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 40.11%.

MarketAxess announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, August 6th that permits the company to buyback $250.00 million in 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 an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.