Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Acquires 14,415 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 901.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,415 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in MarketAxess were worth $4,103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in MarketAxess by 405.1% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 47.4% during the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter worth $54,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on MKTX. Barclays raised their price target on MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Citigroup lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Two research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $267.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total transaction of $5,435,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 592,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,883,880.75. This represents a 3.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.0 %

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $260.35 on Monday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $192.42 and a twelve month high of $297.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $273.23 and a 200 day moving average of $238.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.28, a PEG ratio of 11.69 and a beta of 1.05.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The business’s revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. Equities analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.11%.

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

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.