MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Stock Position Decreased by Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lessened its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 65.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,179 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,111,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,966,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 207.3% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,100,000 after buying an additional 9,539 shares during the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 15,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,926,000 after buying an additional 3,121 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 46.2% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,735,000 after buying an additional 2,513 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 22.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 55,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,265,000 after buying an additional 10,361 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In related news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 562,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,438,302.43. This represents a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $261.71 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $273.38 and a 200-day moving average of $238.90. The firm has a market cap of $9.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.37, a P/E/G ratio of 11.85 and a beta of 1.05. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $192.42 and a twelve month high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 EPS for the current year.

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

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MKTX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $267.50.

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.