MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) General Counsel Sells $72,171.00 in Stock

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) 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 transaction, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MKTX traded up $1.04 during trading on Monday, reaching $240.97. The stock had a trading volume of 490,899 shares, compared to its average volume of 395,897. The business has a 50-day moving average of $273.02 and a 200-day moving average of $241.22. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $192.42 and a one year high of $297.97. The stock has a market cap of $9.08 billion, a PE ratio of 32.51, a PEG ratio of 10.78 and a beta of 1.00.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 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 firm had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.17 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were issued a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.11%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 242.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,215 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,337,000 after purchasing an additional 5,818 shares during the last quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co boosted its position in MarketAxess by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 10,304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,640,000 after buying an additional 369 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth $836,000. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 0.8% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 24,737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,338,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the period. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 4.7% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,471,000 after acquiring an additional 437 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MKTX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Two investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $266.70.

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.