MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Bought by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 901.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,415 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in MarketAxess were worth $4,103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,342,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 2,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $562,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 15,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,926,000 after buying an additional 3,121 shares during the period. Finally, Cumberland Partners Ltd acquired a new position in MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at $512,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MKTX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays upped their target price on MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $267.50.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MKTX opened at $260.35 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.28, a PEG ratio of 11.69 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50-day moving average of $273.23 and a 200-day moving average of $238.10. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $192.42 and a 1-year high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. MarketAxess’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.11%.

MarketAxess announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase 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 reacquire up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In related news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 562,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,438,302.43. This represents a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.