Marshall Wace LLP Increases Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 53.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 820,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 285,665 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP owned 2.16% of MarketAxess worth $164,447,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in MarketAxess by 155.8% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in MarketAxess by 2,428.6% during the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in MarketAxess by 405.1% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC lifted its position in MarketAxess by 47.4% during the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in MarketAxess during the first quarter valued at $68,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.63, for a total value of $142,915.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,716,146.67. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective 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 reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $218.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.60.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.1 %

MKTX stock opened at $257.49 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $238.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $218.85. The company has a market capitalization of $9.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.99 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.91 and a quick ratio of 2.91. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $192.42 and a 12 month high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $197.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $198.07 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.43% and a net margin of 33.71%. MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.06 earnings per share for the current year.

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

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a $0.74 dividend. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.47%.

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.