Castle Hook Partners LP Takes $42.97 Million Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 167,710 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $42,967,000. MarketAxess makes up 0.8% of Castle Hook Partners LP's holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Castle Hook Partners LP owned 0.44% of MarketAxess as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased 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 valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 47.4% during the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the third quarter worth $54,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was 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 approximately $150,438,302.43. The trade was a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MKTX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $267.50.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of MKTX stock traded up $0.69 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $261.71. 217,920 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 405,273. The stock has a market cap of $9.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.46, a PEG ratio of 11.85 and a beta of 1.05. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $192.42 and a fifty-two week high of $297.97. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $273.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $239.06.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.11%.

About MarketAxess

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.