Ashford Capital Management Inc. Decreases Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Ashford Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 60,290 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 6,603 shares during the period. MarketAxess accounts for approximately 1.9% of Ashford Capital Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Ashford Capital Management Inc. owned 0.16% of MarketAxess worth $15,446,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 7,221 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,448,000 after acquiring an additional 553 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 7.5% in the second quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,453 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 158 shares during the period. Rovin Capital UT ADV raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 20.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 2,748 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $551,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its position in MarketAxess by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 202,201 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $40,547,000 after acquiring an additional 789 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MKTX has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup increased their price target on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $289.00 to $260.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Two 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $266.70.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX traded down $0.90 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $240.07. The company had a trading volume of 449,927 shares, compared to its average volume of 409,666. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $192.42 and a fifty-two week high of $297.97. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $272.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $241.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.78 and a beta of 1.00.

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 (EPS) 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 return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess's payout ratio is currently 40.11%.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company's stock.

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.