Bank of Montreal Can Sells 1,474 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Bank of Montreal Can cut its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 59,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,474 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can owned about 0.16% of MarketAxess worth $15,200,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MKTX. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake 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 worth $68,032,000 after buying an additional 327,913 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 285,665 shares in the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 214,928 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 18.2% during 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. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 10.3% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,828,055 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $366,580,000 after purchasing an additional 170,095 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $258.69 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.05, a PEG ratio of 11.75 and a beta of 1.05. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $192.42 and a 1 year high of $297.97. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $273.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $239.58.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 40.11%.

MarketAxess announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, August 6th that authorizes the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MKTX shares. 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. StockNews.com upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $267.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total value 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 trade represents a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 company insiders.

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.