Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Raises Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 181.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 250,037 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 161,115 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $55,843,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 200.0% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 992.9% during the 2nd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in MarketAxess by 51.2% in the 2nd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in MarketAxess by 160.5% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MKTX. Loop Capital set a $164.00 price objective on MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on MarketAxess from $194.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Piper Sandler set a $180.00 price target on MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $186.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $205.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.59, for a total transaction of $298,544.00. Following the sale, the director owned 43,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,062,180.72. This trade represents a 3.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 1,494 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.32, for a total value of $276,868.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive owned 67,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,542,642.92. This trade represents a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.65% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MarketAxess Stock Up 4.7%

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $167.25 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $168.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $191.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.22 billion, a PE ratio of 28.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.28 and a beta of 1.00. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.17 and a 52-week high of $248.00.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $208.82 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.59 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 20.20%. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.90 earnings per share. Analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 19th were paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 19th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.70%.

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.