Ashford Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 9.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,290 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 6,603 shares during the quarter. MarketAxess comprises approximately 1.9% of Ashford Capital Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Ashford Capital Management Inc. owned 0.16% of MarketAxess worth $15,446,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 2,889.6% during 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. FMR LLC boosted its position in MarketAxess by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $501,907,000 after buying an additional 291,134 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 53.5% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 820,060 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $164,447,000 after acquiring an additional 285,665 shares in the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 120.6% during the second quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 393,073 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $78,823,000 after acquiring an additional 214,928 shares during the period. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA increased its holdings 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 worth $266,881,000 after purchasing an additional 204,960 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.
A number of equities analysts recently commented on MKTX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. UBS Group raised 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 boosted their price target on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $289.00 to $260.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $266.70.
Read Our Latest Report on MKTX
In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the business'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 value 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. This trade represents a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,300 shares of company stock worth $8,183,871 over the last quarter. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $240.97 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.65, a P/E/G ratio of 10.78 and a beta of 1.00. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $192.42 and a 52-week high of $297.97. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $272.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $241.41.
MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. The company had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 earnings per share for the current year.
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were issued a $0.74 dividend. 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 presently 40.11%.
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.
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