Wellington Management Group LLP Invests $6.54 Million in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 25,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,535,000. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 0.07% of MarketAxess as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chairman now owns 562,029 shares in the company, valued at $150,438,302.43. This trade represents a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 30,300 shares of company stock worth $8,183,871. 2.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MKTX shares. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Bank of America cut their target price on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $266.70.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $232.92 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $269.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $242.39. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $192.42 and a 12-month high of $297.97. The company has a market cap of $8.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.56, a PEG ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 1.00.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 EPS 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.38 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

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