MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Sold by Walleye Capital LLC

Walleye Capital LLC decreased its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 96.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,587 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 93,062 shares during the quarter. Walleye Capital LLC's holdings in MarketAxess were worth $919,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in MarketAxess in the third quarter worth about $1,966,000. Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 25.6% during the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 15,325 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,926,000 after acquiring an additional 3,121 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 22.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 55,679 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $14,265,000 after acquiring an additional 10,361 shares in the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 164,132 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $32,913,000 after purchasing an additional 2,485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 82,894 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $21,237,000 after purchasing an additional 20,334 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group lifted their target price on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average 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 on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.66% of the company's stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ MKTX traded down $4.03 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $239.93. The company's stock had a trading volume of 573,586 shares, compared to its average volume of 363,540. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.51, a P/E/G ratio of 11.15 and a beta of 1.00. The company's 50-day moving average is $273.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $241.07. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $192.42 and a 1-year high of $297.97.

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

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

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

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.