Inspire Investing LLC Sells 533 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Inspire Investing LLC lessened its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 7.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 533 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,272,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in MarketAxess by 0.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,539,440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $995,272,000 after buying an additional 13,018 shares in the last quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 30.3% during the 1st quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 2,425,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $531,878,000 after purchasing an additional 564,820 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,828,055 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $366,580,000 after purchasing an additional 170,095 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 18.2% in the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,330,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $266,881,000 after purchasing an additional 204,960 shares during the period. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP raised its stake in MarketAxess by 40.0% in the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 716,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $157,134,000 after purchasing an additional 204,660 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on MKTX shares. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $218.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on MarketAxess from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $238.60.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MKTX opened at $259.33 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.91, a current ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a market cap of $9.83 billion, a PE ratio of 38.08, a PEG ratio of 5.99 and a beta of 1.07. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $192.42 and a 12-month high of $297.97. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $236.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $218.09.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $197.70 million during 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 firm’s revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.47%.

MarketAxess declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, August 6th that permits the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now owns 7,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,716,146.67. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.