Stifel Financial Corp Lowers Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Stifel Financial Corp trimmed its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 16.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 666 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $878,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the third quarter worth $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth about $54,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its position in MarketAxess by 555.6% during the third 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. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 160.3% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MarketAxess news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total transaction of $5,435,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 592,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $160,883,880.75. This trade represents a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 30,300 shares of company stock worth $8,183,871. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX opened at $229.40 on Wednesday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $192.42 and a fifty-two week high of $297.97. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $263.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $243.70. The firm has a market cap of $8.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.08, a PEG ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.00.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. The firm’s revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.38 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were given 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 1.29%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 40.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MKTX. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $276.00 to $255.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $264.60.

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.