Insider Selling: MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) General Counsel Sells $17,196.00 in Stock

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.96, for a total value of $17,196.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 11,986 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,061,112.56. The trade was a 0.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

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

• On Monday, January 12th, Scott Pintoff sold 100 shares of MarketAxess stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.63, for a total value of $16,863.00.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX opened at $171.94 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $6.11 billion, a PE ratio of 25.82, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $175.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.80 and a quick ratio of 2.80. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.17 and a 1 year high of $232.84.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $209.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $214.06 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 29.14% and a return on equity of 20.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.73 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were paid a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on MKTX. Argus lowered MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. UBS Group reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $195.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $182.00 to $178.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $201.11.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in MarketAxess by 200.0% in 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. Activest Wealth Management bought a new position in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Stance Capital LLC bought a new position in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth about $42,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.