MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Short Interest Up 15.5% in November

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 758,000 shares, an increase of 15.5% from the November 15th total of 656,200 shares. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 394,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Two 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $266.70.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MKTX stock traded down $2.48 during trading on Friday, hitting $233.73. 292,521 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 410,815. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.81 billion, a PE ratio of 31.67, a P/E/G ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 1.00. MarketAxess has a 1 year low of $192.42 and a 1 year high of $297.97. The company has a 50-day moving average of $270.45 and a 200-day moving average of $242.14.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last issued 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 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess will post 7.38 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were paid 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 dividend yield of 1.27%. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio is presently 40.11%.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the company'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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 592,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,883,880.75. This trade represents a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,300 shares of company stock worth $8,183,871 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.66% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 17.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $501,907,000 after purchasing an additional 291,134 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in MarketAxess by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,828,055 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $366,580,000 after buying an additional 170,095 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,338,922 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $343,032,000 after acquiring an additional 8,042 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 14.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,076,877 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $275,122,000 after acquiring an additional 139,949 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 53.5% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 820,060 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $164,447,000 after acquiring an additional 285,665 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.