Primecap Management Co. CA Purchases 8,042 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,338,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,042 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $343,032,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MKTX. Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 405.1% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 47.4% in the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at $54,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MarketAxess stock opened at $265.44 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $273.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $237.04. 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 market capitalization of $10.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.97, a PEG ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 1.05.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 40.11%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective 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. UBS Group increased 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $267.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of MarketAxess 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 transaction, the chairman now owns 592,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

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.