waypoint wealth counsel Takes Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

waypoint wealth counsel bought a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,003 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Comerica Bank grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 0.9% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 5,181 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,121,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 13.0% during the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $113,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 1.6% during the second quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 4,157 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $928,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 3.5% during the second quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 2,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $452,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 19.6% during the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 446 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $97,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 1,494 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.32, for a total transaction of $276,868.08. Following the transaction, the executive directly owned 67,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,542,642.92. This represents a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.59, for a total value of $298,544.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 43,208 shares in the company, valued at $8,062,180.72. This trade represents a 3.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MKTX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Argus upgraded MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $212.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 25th. UBS Group decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $255.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Barclays decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $200.00 to $186.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $274.00 to $253.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $223.55.

MarketAxess Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $177.40 on Monday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $161.61 and a 52-week high of $296.68. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $183.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $205.81. The company has a market capitalization of $6.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.89.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.06. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 26.62%.The business had revenue of $219.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.05 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.72 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were given a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.18%.

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.