MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Purchased by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 12.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 519 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,194,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at $1,966,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 207.3% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,100,000 after acquiring an additional 9,539 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 25.6% in the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 15,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,926,000 after acquiring an additional 3,121 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 46.2% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,735,000 after acquiring an additional 2,513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 22.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 55,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,265,000 after acquiring an additional 10,361 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MarketAxess news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total value of $2,676,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 562,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,438,302.43. This trade represents a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MarketAxess Stock Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $258.69 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.46, a P/E/G ratio of 11.75 and a beta of 1.05. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $192.42 and a 52-week high of $297.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $273.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $239.22.

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

MarketAxess declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, August 6th that authorizes the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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 issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $267.50.

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.