30,746 Shares in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Purchased by Sanctuary Advisors LLC

Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 30,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,204,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC owned 0.08% of MarketAxess as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MKTX. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in MarketAxess by 155.8% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in MarketAxess by 2,428.6% in the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 405.1% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 47.4% during the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. 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 that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.63, for a total value of $142,915.71. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,716,146.67. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MKTX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays dropped their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $240.50.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $273.65 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.91, a quick ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. 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 moving average of $245.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $221.36. The company has a market capitalization of $10.37 billion, a PE ratio of 40.18, a PEG ratio of 6.04 and a beta of 1.08.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.04. The business 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.06 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 43.47%.

MarketAxess 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.