Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Sells 409 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lowered its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 409 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $594,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd lifted its position in MarketAxess by 30.3% in the first quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 2,425,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $531,878,000 after purchasing an additional 564,820 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 2,889.6% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 339,261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $68,032,000 after buying an additional 327,913 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 53.5% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 820,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $164,447,000 after buying an additional 285,665 shares during the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in MarketAxess by 120.6% during the 2nd quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 393,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,823,000 after buying an additional 214,928 shares during the period. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 18.2% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,330,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $266,881,000 after acquiring an additional 204,960 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup increased their price objective on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group boosted 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $267.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total value of $2,676,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 562,029 shares in the company, valued at $150,438,302.43. The trade was a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX opened at $261.65 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $272.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $235.53. 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 $9.87 billion, a PE ratio of 35.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.06 and a beta of 1.05.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.13%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.11%.

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

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.