MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 758,000 shares, an increase of 15.5% from the November 15th total of 656,200 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 394,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total value of $5,435,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 592,029 shares in the company, valued at $160,883,880.75. This trade represents a 3.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,300 shares of company stock worth $8,183,871 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC raised its position in MarketAxess by 17.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $501,907,000 after purchasing an additional 291,134 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 170,095 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted 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 buying an additional 8,042 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 14.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,076,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $275,122,000 after buying an additional 139,949 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased 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 valued at $164,447,000 after acquiring an additional 285,665 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on MKTX. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Two equities research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $266.70.

MarketAxess Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $232.92 on Tuesday. MarketAxess has a 52-week low of $192.42 and a 52-week high of $297.97. The stock has a market cap of $8.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.56, a PEG ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a fifty day moving average of $269.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $242.39.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MarketAxess will post 7.38 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is presently 40.11%.

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.