BNP Paribas Financial Markets Grows Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 47.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 68,364 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 21,936 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned 0.18% of MarketAxess worth $17,515,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. D.A. Davidson & CO. bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth $2,588,000. FMR LLC increased its position in MarketAxess by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $501,907,000 after buying an additional 291,134 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC increased its position in MarketAxess by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 1,342 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in MarketAxess by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 4,662 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,194,000 after buying an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in MarketAxess by 50.8% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,393 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 469 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total value of $5,435,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 592,029 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $160,883,880.75. This trade represents a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 company insiders.

MarketAxess Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of MKTX traded down $3.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $258.69. The company had a trading volume of 230,227 shares, compared to its average volume of 371,931. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $192.42 and a 52-week high of $297.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.05, a PEG ratio of 11.62 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $273.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $239.83.

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

MarketAxess announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 6th that authorizes the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MKTX. Barclays upped their target price on MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $267.50.

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.