Assetmark Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 160.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 234 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $97,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Natixis purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 1st quarter valued at $842,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 207.3% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,100,000 after purchasing an additional 9,539 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 46.2% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,735,000 after purchasing an additional 2,513 shares in the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 1st quarter valued at $2,719,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 1st quarter valued at $914,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MKTX opened at $261.65 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.45, a PEG ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a fifty day moving average of $272.48 and a 200 day moving average of $235.98. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $192.42 and a fifty-two week high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. The company had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.13%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.11%.

MarketAxess declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan 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 buy up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MKTX shares. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $267.50.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In related news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 562,029 shares in the company, valued at $150,438,302.43. This trade represents a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

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.