Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC reduced its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 26.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,365 shares during the quarter. Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,690,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at $1,966,000. Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,121 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 10,361 shares in the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 1.5% in the second quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 164,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,913,000 after purchasing an additional 2,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in MarketAxess by 32.5% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 82,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,237,000 after buying an additional 20,334 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the business’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 in the company, valued at $150,438,302.43. The trade was a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Two equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $267.50.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $262.79 on Wednesday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $192.42 and a 1-year high of $297.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $273.65 and a 200-day moving average of $240.66. The firm has a market cap of $9.91 billion, a PE ratio of 35.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.83 and a beta of 1.00.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The company had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. MarketAxess’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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 repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.11%.

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.