Alberta Investment Management Corp Has $4.09 Million Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Alberta Investment Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $4,087,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 45.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 5,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,118,000 after buying an additional 1,559 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in MarketAxess by 10.0% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 1,589 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in MarketAxess by 373.9% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 33,543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,491,000 after purchasing an additional 26,465 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its position in MarketAxess by 43.9% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 3,433 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $767,000 after purchasing an additional 1,048 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 287.2% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 31,787 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,099,000 after purchasing an additional 23,577 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $174.97 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $173.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $197.20. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.17 and a fifty-two week high of $268.12. The company has a market cap of $6.50 billion, a PE ratio of 29.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.44 and a beta of 0.94.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.15. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.62% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business had revenue of $208.82 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $212.59 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 19th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 51.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on MarketAxess from $186.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $274.00 to $253.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Argus upgraded MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $212.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, August 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $209.91.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owned 43,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,062,180.72. This represents a 3.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 1,494 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.32, for a total transaction of $276,868.08. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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.