Bridgewater Associates LP Sells 25,135 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Bridgewater Associates LP trimmed its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 39.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 38,037 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 25,135 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $9,745,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 1,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 0.3% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 15,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,953,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 0.7% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,479,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in MarketAxess by 1.0% in the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 5,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,287,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 4.9% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $324,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In related news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 592,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $160,883,880.75. This trade represents a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of MKTX opened at $261.71 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $273.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $239.06. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $192.42 and a twelve month high of $297.97. The stock has a market cap of $9.87 billion, a PE ratio of 35.46, a P/E/G ratio of 11.85 and a beta of 1.05.

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

MarketAxess announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, August 6th that authorizes the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MKTX. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Two 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 company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $267.50.

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.