Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Purchases 3,963 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 40.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,963 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $2,774,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 1,467.7% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 5,001 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,003,000 after purchasing an additional 4,682 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in MarketAxess by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,847,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in MarketAxess by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 15,920 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,192,000 after acquiring an additional 1,459 shares during the period. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. increased its stake in MarketAxess by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 164,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,913,000 after acquiring an additional 2,485 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in MarketAxess by 263.1% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $391,000 after acquiring an additional 1,413 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.63, for a total value of $142,915.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,716,146.67. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on MKTX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on MarketAxess from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on MarketAxess from $218.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $238.60.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $258.38 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.91, a current ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $192.42 and a twelve month high of $297.97. The company has a market cap of $9.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.99 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s fifty day moving average is $233.44 and its 200 day moving average is $217.22.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $197.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $198.07 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.43% and a net margin of 33.71%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.63 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 6th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is presently 43.47%.

About MarketAxess

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.