Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 22.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 55,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,361 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $14,265,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 1,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $314,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in MarketAxess by 0.3% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 15,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,953,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in MarketAxess by 0.7% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,479,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 5,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,287,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $324,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $261.65 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $192.42 and a 1-year high of $297.97. The company has a market capitalization of $9.87 billion, a PE ratio of 35.45, a P/E/G ratio of 12.06 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50-day moving average of $272.48 and a 200-day moving average of $235.78.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its 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. The company had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The business’s revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 40.11%.

MarketAxess announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, August 6th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on MKTX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $267.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess 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.