Virtu Financial LLC Invests $836,000 in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake 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 acquired 3,263 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $836,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at about $54,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 200 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on MKTX. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America decreased their price objective 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, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $266.70.

MarketAxess Trading Down 1.0 %

MKTX traded down $2.48 on Friday, hitting $233.73. 292,521 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 410,815. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $192.42 and a fifty-two week high of $297.97. The stock has a market cap of $8.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.67, a P/E/G ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $270.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $241.60.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $207.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. MarketAxess's revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.38 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were given 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 payout ratio is 40.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total value of $5,435,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 592,029 shares of the company's stock, valued at $160,883,880.75. The trade was 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 ninety days. 2.66% of the stock is owned by 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.