Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Grows Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 19.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $397,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Clear Street Markets LLC increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 94.6% in the 1st quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 72 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. VitalStone Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. BOKF NA acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 62.5% in the 1st quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Compass Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Christopher R. Concannon purchased 4,270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $238.42 per share, for a total transaction of $1,018,053.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 47,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,245,317.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MKTX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $308.00 to $284.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 27th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $206.00 to $203.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 26th. Atlantic Securities lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $368.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 12th. UBS Group began coverage on MarketAxess in a research report on Friday, October 6th. They set a “buy” rating and a $285.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com raised MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $272.27.

MarketAxess Trading Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $221.40 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $200.01 and a 12 month high of $399.78. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $226.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $257.72. The firm has a market cap of $8.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.91.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.46. The company had revenue of $172.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.32 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 21.86% and a net margin of 33.78%. MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.58 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 6.72 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 8th will be given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 7th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.70%.

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates an electronic trading platform for institutional investor and broker-dealer companies worldwide. It offers the access to liquidity in the U.S. investment-grade bonds, U.S. high-yield bonds, and U.S. Treasuries, as well as municipal bonds, emerging market debts, Eurobonds, and other fixed-income securities.