Bank of Nova Scotia Has $24.23 Million Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 535.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 108,481 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 91,419 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia owned approximately 0.29% of MarketAxess worth $24,228,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 393.0% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 98,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,948,000 after purchasing an additional 78,336 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 16.4% in the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 19,734 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,334,000 after buying an additional 2,784 shares during the last quarter. Ethic Inc. increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 190.6% in the second quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 3,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $682,000 after buying an additional 2,036 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the first quarter valued at about $543,000. Finally, Ground Swell Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the first quarter worth about $362,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $173.16 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $167.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $190.51. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $156.17 and a one year high of $244.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.45, a PEG ratio of 7.52 and a beta of 1.00.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.15. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.20% and a net margin of 26.16%.The firm had revenue of $208.82 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $212.59 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MarketAxess news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 1,494 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the executive directly owned 67,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,542,642.92. This trade represents a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on MKTX shares. UBS Group reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $255.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $194.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Piper Sandler set a $180.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $186.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of MarketAxess from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $247.00 to $209.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $205.91.

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.