Janus Henderson Group PLC Cuts Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Janus Henderson Group PLC cut its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 314 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $822,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the second quarter worth $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at $54,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its position in MarketAxess by 555.6% during the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total transaction of $5,435,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 592,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,883,880.75. This represents a 3.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,300 shares of company stock worth $8,183,871. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on MKTX. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup lifted 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. Barclays reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $289.00 to $260.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $266.70.

MarketAxess Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $233.73 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $270.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $241.85. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $192.42 and a fifty-two week high of $297.97. The company has a market cap of $8.81 billion, a PE ratio of 31.67, a P/E/G ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 1.00.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. The company’s revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.38 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio 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.