Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 12.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 519 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,194,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 207.3% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,100,000 after buying an additional 9,539 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 46.2% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,735,000 after buying an additional 2,513 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the 1st quarter worth about $229,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the 1st quarter worth about $502,000. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the 1st quarter worth about $625,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $258.69 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.46, a PEG ratio of 11.75 and a beta of 1.05. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $192.42 and a 52-week high of $297.97. The business’s 50 day moving average is $273.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $239.22.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $207.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 40.11%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MKTX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $267.50.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chairman now owns 592,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $160,883,880.75. This represents a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

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.