Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Makes New Investment in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 2.9% in the second quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 1,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $314,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its stake in MarketAxess by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 5,137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,126,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 0.7% during the 2nd 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 period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted 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 buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 47.4% in the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other news, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.63, for a total transaction of $142,915.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,716,146.67. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MKTX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on MarketAxess from $218.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $249.80.

MarketAxess Trading Up 2.3 %

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $284.50 on Tuesday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $192.42 and a 12 month high of $297.97. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $251.29 and a 200-day moving average of $223.86. The company has a market cap of $10.78 billion, a PE ratio of 41.78, a PEG ratio of 7.24 and a beta of 1.08.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $197.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $198.07 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.71% and a return on equity of 20.43%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. MarketAxess’s 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.