Gulf International Bank UK Ltd Sells 106 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Gulf International Bank UK Ltd trimmed its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,018 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 106 shares during the period. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $773,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,539,440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $995,272,000 after buying an additional 13,018 shares during the last quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 30.3% during the 1st quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 2,425,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $531,878,000 after acquiring an additional 564,820 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,828,055 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $366,580,000 after acquiring an additional 170,095 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 18.2% during the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,330,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $266,881,000 after acquiring an additional 204,960 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 53.5% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 820,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $164,447,000 after purchasing an additional 285,665 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MKTX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup boosted their price target on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Two 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $263.40.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $274.68 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.22, a P/E/G ratio of 8.64 and a beta of 1.05. 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 3.56, a quick ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $270.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $233.28.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.08. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.11%.

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

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.