Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Lowers Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund decreased its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 8.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 104 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $286,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 30.3% during 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 buying an additional 564,820 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in MarketAxess by 2,889.6% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 339,261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,032,000 after acquiring an additional 327,913 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 285,665 shares in 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 acquiring an additional 214,928 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its position in MarketAxess by 18.2% during the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,330,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $266,881,000 after acquiring an additional 204,960 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 analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price 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. Two equities 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, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $267.50.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $267.81 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $10.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.29, a PEG ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50 day moving average is $272.87 and its 200 day moving average is $236.84. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $192.42 and a 52-week high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given 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 1.11%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.11%.

MarketAxess announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, August 6th that authorizes the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In other news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chairman now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.66% of the stock is currently 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.