Cerity Partners LLC Raises Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 26.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,269 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,577,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 207.3% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,100,000 after buying an additional 9,539 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the 1st quarter worth about $625,000. DNB Asset Management AS increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 18.4% during the second quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 6,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,282,000 after purchasing an additional 993 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 47.4% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter valued at about $129,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MKTX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays boosted their price objective 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, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $267.50.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $263.47 on Tuesday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $192.42 and a 1 year high of $297.97. The company’s fifty day moving average is $273.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $240.32. The company has a market capitalization of $9.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.70, a PEG ratio of 11.62 and a beta of 1.05.

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. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 earnings per share for the current year.

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

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.12%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 40.11%.

MarketAxess Company 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.