Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 19.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,185 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 2,650 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $2,866,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in MarketAxess in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC raised its stake in MarketAxess by 47.4% during the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 555.6% in the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 236 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chairman now directly owns 592,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,883,880.75. The trade was a 3.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays upped their price target on MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $267.50.

MarketAxess Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of MarketAxess stock traded down $3.33 on Friday, hitting $261.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 378,497 shares, compared to its average volume of 356,597. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $272.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $235.78. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $192.42 and a 52-week high of $297.97. The company has a market capitalization of $9.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 1.05.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. The business had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a $0.74 dividend. 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%.

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.