Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 10,361 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 22.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 55,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,361 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.15% of MarketAxess worth $14,265,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MKTX. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 242.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,215 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,337,000 after acquiring an additional 5,818 shares during the last quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 10,304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,640,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $836,000. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 24,737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,338,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 4.7% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,471,000 after buying an additional 437 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.5 %

MKTX opened at $229.03 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $8.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.03, a PEG ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $260.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $243.73. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $192.42 and a 1-year high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $264.60.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total transaction of $5,435,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 592,029 shares in the company, valued at $160,883,880.75. The trade was a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871. 2.66% of the stock is owned by 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.