Scott Pintoff Sells 100 Shares of MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Stock

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.12, for a total value of $11,512.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 11,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,345,292.32. This trade represents a 0.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Scott Pintoff also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, June 10th, Scott Pintoff sold 100 shares of MarketAxess stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.03, for a total value of $11,603.00.
• On Monday, May 11th, Scott Pintoff sold 100 shares of MarketAxess stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.99, for a total value of $14,699.00.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $113.86. 517,179 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 713,226. The company has a market cap of $4.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.46, a PEG ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $126.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $157.81. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $108.75 and a 52 week high of $219.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.17 and a quick ratio of 2.17.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.53% and a return on equity of 22.28%. The firm had revenue of $233.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $231.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.87 EPS. MarketAxess’s revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MKTX. Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 3,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $614,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 1.7% in the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 4,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $939,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 7,884 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,368,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in MarketAxess by 200.0% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 7,181 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,302,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MKTX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $168.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Argus downgraded MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $195.00 to $129.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Bank of America raised MarketAxess from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $167.45.

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates a leading global electronic trading platform specializing in fixed-income securities and related products. The company’s network enables institutional investors and broker-dealers to trade corporate bonds, municipal securities, emerging markets debt, U.S. Treasuries and credit default swaps in an automated, multi-dealer environment. MarketAxess also offers portfolio trading, data analytics, best-execution tools and post-trade services to streamline workflows and enhance price discovery across its marketplace.

In addition to core voice-like trading protocols, MarketAxess provides Open Trading®, an anonymous, all-to-all trading protocol designed to improve liquidity and transaction efficiency.