Centiva Capital LP Invests $332,000 in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Centiva Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $332,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Azora Capital LP increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 32.2% during the third quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 53,150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,617,000 after purchasing an additional 12,935 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,503,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,099,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at $614,000. Finally, Eventide Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at $568,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Stock Down 0.4 %

MKTX stock opened at $240.07 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $272.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $241.57. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $192.42 and a 52-week high of $297.97. The firm has a market cap of $9.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.53, a PEG ratio of 10.78 and a beta of 1.00.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,300 shares of company stock worth $8,183,871 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MKTX shares. Citigroup upped their target price on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Bank of America cut their target price on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $289.00 to $260.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $266.70.

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.