Commerce Bank Buys 97 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Commerce Bank boosted its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 3.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,626 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $673,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 1,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $314,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 0.3% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 15,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,953,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,479,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 5,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,287,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in MarketAxess by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $324,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MarketAxess stock opened at $263.80 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $9.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.75, a P/E/G ratio of 11.69 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $273.23 and a 200-day moving average of $238.10. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $192.42 and a one year high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. 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 prior year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.11%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $150,438,302.43. This trade represents a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Two equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.