B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Takes $1.97 Million Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 7,674 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,966,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Natixis acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the 1st quarter worth approximately $842,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake 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 worth $3,100,000 after buying an additional 9,539 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 15,325 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,926,000 after buying an additional 3,121 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake 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 worth $1,735,000 after buying an additional 2,513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,719,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the chairman now owns 562,029 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $150,438,302.43. This represents a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company's stock.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.0 %

NASDAQ:MKTX traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $260.35. 352,706 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 405,609. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $273.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $237.21. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $192.42 and a fifty-two week high of $297.97. The firm has a market cap of $9.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.71, a PEG ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 1.05.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $206.70 million for 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%. The company's revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. Research analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess declared that its board has initiated 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 buy up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MKTX. Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup raised their price objective on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com raised MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $267.50.

MarketAxess 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.