Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. Makes New Investment in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 5,868 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,503,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 207.3% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,140 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,100,000 after buying an additional 9,539 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 1st quarter valued at about $625,000. DNB Asset Management AS raised its stake in MarketAxess by 18.4% during the second quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 6,393 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,282,000 after acquiring an additional 993 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 47.4% in the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC bought a new position in MarketAxess in the second quarter worth about $129,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MKTX traded down $3.02 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $258.69. The stock had a trading volume of 230,227 shares, compared to its average volume of 404,515. The company has a market capitalization of $9.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.05, a P/E/G ratio of 11.62 and a beta of 1.05. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $273.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $239.99. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $192.42 and a 52 week high of $297.97.

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

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

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 $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.11%.

MarketAxess declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MKTX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group raised their target price on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Two investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $267.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of MarketAxess 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 of the company's stock, valued at $150,438,302.43. The trade was a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.