MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX Shares Sold by Jackson Square Partners LLC

Jackson Square Partners LLC reduced its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 83.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 81,441 shares during the period. MarketAxess comprises 1.3% of Jackson Square Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position. Jackson Square Partners LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $3,635,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Comerica Bank lifted 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 valued at $1,121,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 5,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,105,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 13.0% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 4,157 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $928,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RMR Wealth Builders increased its stake in MarketAxess by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 2,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $452,000 after buying an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MKTX shares. Zacks Research cut shares of MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Loop Capital set a $164.00 price objective on MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Barclays dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $200.00 to $186.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $274.00 to $253.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $216.58.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $167.27 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $156.17 and a 12 month high of $277.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.25 billion, a PE ratio of 28.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.44 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $174.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $199.18.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $208.82 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $212.59 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 26.62%.The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 19th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is presently 51.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MarketAxess news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 1,494 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.32, for a total transaction of $276,868.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive directly owned 67,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,542,642.92. This represents a 2.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.59, for a total value of $298,544.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 43,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,062,180.72. This represents a 3.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.65% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.