Scott Pintoff Sells 100 Shares of MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Stock

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 100 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.63, for a total transaction of $16,863.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 9,638 shares in the company, valued at $1,625,255.94. This trade represents a 1.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.8%

NASDAQ MKTX traded up $1.33 on Monday, hitting $170.10. 762,308 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 691,230. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $172.20 and a 200-day moving average of $183.79. The stock has a market cap of $6.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.93, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.17 and a 52 week high of $232.84.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.15. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.20% and a net margin of 26.16%.The company had revenue of $208.82 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.59 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.90 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 19th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is presently 51.70%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in MarketAxess by 200.0% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 992.9% in the second quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess during the second quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new stake in MarketAxess during the third quarter valued at $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Argus dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $212.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $209.00 to $204.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Loop Capital set a $164.00 price target on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $188.00 to $182.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $202.91.

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates a leading global electronic trading platform specializing in fixed-income securities and related products. The company’s network enables institutional investors and broker-dealers to trade corporate bonds, municipal securities, emerging markets debt, U.S. Treasuries and credit default swaps in an automated, multi-dealer environment. MarketAxess also offers portfolio trading, data analytics, best-execution tools and post-trade services to streamline workflows and enhance price discovery across its marketplace.

In addition to core voice-like trading protocols, MarketAxess provides Open Trading®, an anonymous, all-to-all trading protocol designed to improve liquidity and transaction efficiency.