Virtu Financial LLC Invests $836,000 in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 3,263 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $836,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 405.1% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in MarketAxess by 0.4% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 202,201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,547,000 after acquiring an additional 789 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 0.7% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,479,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the second quarter worth approximately $1,540,000. Finally, Access Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 32.3% during the 2nd quarter. Access Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $754,000 after purchasing an additional 917 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX opened at $233.73 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $270.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $241.60. The company has a market capitalization of $8.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.67, a P/E/G ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 1.00. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $192.42 and a 1 year high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The company’s revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.38 EPS 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 issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of MarketAxess 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 directly owns 562,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,438,302.43. The trade was a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871 over the last ninety days. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MKTX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group boosted their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $289.00 to $260.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two investment 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 company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $266.70.

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.