Bank of Montreal Can Sells 1,474 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Bank of Montreal Can decreased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 2.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 59,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,474 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $15,200,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new position in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 405.1% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC increased its stake in MarketAxess by 47.4% in the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at about $54,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MKTX. StockNews.com upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Two investment 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $267.50.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX opened at $258.69 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.75 billion, a PE ratio of 35.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.75 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s 50-day moving average is $273.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $239.58. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $192.42 and a 1 year high of $297.97.

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

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.14%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.11%.

MarketAxess declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock 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 often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total value of $5,435,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 592,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,883,880.75. This trade represents a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

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.