Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Grows Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 309.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,589 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,289 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $3,527,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MKTX. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in MarketAxess by 155.8% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in MarketAxess by 2,428.6% in the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in MarketAxess by 405.1% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC grew 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 valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Finally, Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in MarketAxess in the 1st quarter valued at $68,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MarketAxess news, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.63, for a total value of $142,915.71. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,716,146.67. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MKTX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on MarketAxess from $218.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on MarketAxess from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.60.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX opened at $254.38 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $239.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $219.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.04 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 2.91 and a current ratio of 2.91. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $192.42 and a 52-week high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $197.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $198.07 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.43% and a net margin of 33.71%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. Research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.16%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 43.47%.

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.