Headlands Technologies LLC Acquires 4,682 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 1,467.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,001 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,682 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,003,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the first quarter worth about $7,866,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in MarketAxess by 174.2% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,478,000 after purchasing an additional 4,284 shares in the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. grew its position in MarketAxess by 84.0% in the 4th quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 9,861 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,888,000 after purchasing an additional 4,502 shares in the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in MarketAxess by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 176,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,584,000 after purchasing an additional 5,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in MarketAxess by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,526,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,325,563,000 after purchasing an additional 34,197 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MKTX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $218.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MarketAxess news, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.63, for a total value of $142,915.71. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,716,146.67. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $255.41 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.51, a PEG ratio of 6.03 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 2.91, a quick ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $229.10 and its 200 day moving average is $216.00. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $192.42 and a 12 month high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.04. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.71% and a return on equity of 20.43%. The business had revenue of $197.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $198.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.05 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.47%.

MarketAxess declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, August 6th that authorizes the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.