MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Purchased by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC raised its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 16.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 140,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 19,962 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned about 0.37% of MarketAxess worth $36,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter worth about $54,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted 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 valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $233.73 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $270.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $241.60. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $192.42 and a twelve month high of $297.97. The company has a market capitalization of $8.81 billion, a PE ratio of 31.67, a P/E/G ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 1.00.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th were given a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MKTX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays cut their price target on MarketAxess from $289.00 to $260.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $266.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MarketAxess news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 562,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,438,302.43. This trade represents a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,300 shares of company stock worth $8,183,871 in the last quarter. 2.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.