KBC Group NV Sells 582 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

KBC Group NV decreased its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 38.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 582 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 1.1% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,323,015 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $502,585,000 after acquiring an additional 24,606 shares in the last quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 1.4% during the first quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP now owns 680,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $147,118,000 after purchasing an additional 9,100 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 329.4% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 618,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $133,904,000 after purchasing an additional 474,776 shares in the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 64.8% during the 1st quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 402,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $87,083,000 after purchasing an additional 158,240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 372,468 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $80,583,000 after purchasing an additional 9,244 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $172.97 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $172.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $196.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.43 billion, a PE ratio of 29.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.44 and a beta of 0.94. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.17 and a 52 week high of $268.12.

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

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MarketAxess news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 1,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.59, for a total transaction of $298,544.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 1,494 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.32, for a total value of $276,868.08. Following the sale, the executive directly owned 67,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,542,642.92. The trade was a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MKTX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $274.00 to $253.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Piper Sandler set a $180.00 price objective on MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. UBS Group reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $255.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $209.91.

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.