MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Sold by Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lessened its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 65.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,338 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 8,179 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.'s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,111,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter worth $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 405.1% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 197 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter worth about $54,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 555.6% during the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 236 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on MKTX shares. UBS Group upped their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. 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 report on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com raised MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $267.50.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:MKTX traded up $0.69 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $261.71. 217,920 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 405,273. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.46, a P/E/G ratio of 11.85 and a beta of 1.05. The firm's fifty day moving average is $273.41 and its 200-day moving average is $239.06. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $192.42 and a 12-month high of $297.97.

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. 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

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

MarketAxess declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, August 6th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total value of $2,676,700.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 562,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,438,302.43. This trade represents a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company's stock.

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.