Stifel Financial Corp Sells 666 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Stifel Financial Corp lessened its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 16.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 666 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $878,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 7.5% in the second quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 2,154 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $432,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in MarketAxess by 4.2% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 443,714 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $88,978,000 after purchasing an additional 17,996 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 0.9% in the second quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 11,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,230,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the second quarter valued at about $2,684,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 12,787 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,564,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Down 0.0 %

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $229.40 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.08, a PEG ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.00. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $192.42 and a twelve month high of $297.97. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $263.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $243.70.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MKTX shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $276.00 to $255.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $264.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of MarketAxess 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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 592,029 shares in the company, valued at $160,883,880.75. This trade represents a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871 over the last ninety days. 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.