William Frank Jr. Cruger Sells 6,164 Shares of MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Stock

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Director William Frank Jr. Cruger sold 6,164 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.20, for a total transaction of $1,005,964.80. Following the sale, the director owned 4,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $658,185.60. This trade represents a 60.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

MarketAxess Stock Down 0.1%

MKTX stock opened at $163.00 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.22, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 1.85. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $108.75 and a one year high of $195.96. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $145.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $149.79.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.48% and a net margin of 35.22%.The company had revenue of $218.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $216.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.00 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.06 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 36.79%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 200.0% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 215.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in MarketAxess by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on MKTX shares. Bank of America upgraded MarketAxess from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, June 12th. UBS Group lowered shares of MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, July 31st. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $195.00 to $129.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.10.

MarketAxess Company Profile

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates an electronic trading platform for institutional fixed-income markets. Through its technology, investors and dealers can trade corporate bonds, government securities, emerging-market debt and other credit products in an electronic environment designed to improve access, execution and transparency.

The company’s offerings include its Open Trading marketplace, which connects a broad network of institutional participants, as well as a range of trading protocols that support different liquidity and execution needs.