Mather Group LLC. Takes Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $72,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 347.6% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP increased its stake in MarketAxess by 39.6% during the 3rd quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP now owns 134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in MarketAxess by 155.8% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its stake in MarketAxess by 47.3% during the 4th quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total transaction of $99,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,034,895.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MKTX. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $250.00 to $237.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 12th. UBS Group reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $249.73.

MarketAxess Trading Down 2.4 %

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $194.41 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.37 billion, a PE ratio of 28.55, a PEG ratio of 4.99 and a beta of 1.04. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $192.54 and a 12 month high of $297.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $204.33 and a 200-day moving average of $229.75.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.07. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.82% and a net margin of 33.83%. The company had revenue of $210.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 21st. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 43.47%.

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.