Czech National Bank Grows Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Czech National Bank increased its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 5.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 504 shares during the quarter. Czech National Bank’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $2,047,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Comerica Bank raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 5,181 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,121,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 49.1% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming raised its stake in MarketAxess by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 483 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $109,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RMR Wealth Builders lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 2,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $452,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $283.00 to $274.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $237.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $204.00 target price (up from $202.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $228.09.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.8%

MarketAxess stock opened at $178.32 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $177.84 and a 1 year high of $296.68. The company has a market cap of $6.66 billion, a PE ratio of 30.02, a PEG ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s 50-day moving average is $194.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $209.83.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.06. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 26.62%.The business had revenue of $219.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.05 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. MarketAxess’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 51.18%.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 1,494 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.32, for a total transaction of $276,868.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive owned 67,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,542,642.92. This trade represents a 2.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 1,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.59, for a total value of $298,544.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 43,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,062,180.72. This trade represents a 3.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

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.