MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Purchased by Geode Capital Management LLC

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 14.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,076,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 139,949 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 2.86% of MarketAxess worth $275,122,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $501,907,000 after buying an additional 291,134 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in MarketAxess by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,828,055 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $366,580,000 after acquiring an additional 170,095 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its stake in MarketAxess by 0.6% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,338,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $343,032,000 after purchasing an additional 8,042 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 53.5% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 820,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $164,447,000 after purchasing an additional 285,665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 4.2% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 443,714 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $88,978,000 after purchasing an additional 17,996 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total value of $5,435,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 592,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,883,880.75. This represents a 3.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MarketAxess Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $233.73 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $192.42 and a 52 week high of $297.97. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $270.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $241.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.67, a P/E/G ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 1.00.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results 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 firm 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 revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MKTX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $289.00 to $260.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Bank of America decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $266.70.

MarketAxess 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.