Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Reduces Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. reduced its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 922 shares during the quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $4,823,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 2,889.6% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 339,261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,032,000 after buying an additional 327,913 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $501,907,000 after acquiring an additional 291,134 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 53.5% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 820,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $164,447,000 after purchasing an additional 285,665 shares in the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 120.6% during the 2nd quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 393,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $78,823,000 after purchasing an additional 214,928 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 18.2% in the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,330,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $266,881,000 after purchasing an additional 204,960 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $267.50.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $261.71 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $192.42 and a 52 week high of $297.97. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $273.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $239.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.75 and a beta of 1.05.

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. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. MarketAxess’s revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase 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 buy up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued 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 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.