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

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 100 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.80, for a total value of $16,480.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,286 shares in the company, valued at $1,859,932.80. The trade was a 0.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Scott Pintoff also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, October 12th, Scott Pintoff sold 100 shares of MarketAxess stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.65, for a total value of $16,465.00.
• On Thursday, September 10th, Scott Pintoff sold 100 shares of MarketAxess stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.32, for a total value of $16,332.00.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:MKTX traded down $0.59 on Tuesday, reaching $165.08. 353,605 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 756,575. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $108.75 and a 1-year high of $195.96. The company’s 50 day moving average is $164.16 and its 200-day moving average is $155.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.83.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by ($0.09). MarketAxess had a return on equity of 23.15% and a net margin of 33.51%. The firm had revenue of $210.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $218.98 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 11th will be issued a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 10th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is presently 38.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. William Blair downgraded MarketAxess from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded MarketAxess from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $167.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Barclays lifted their target price on MarketAxess from $132.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $159.44.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter valued at about $453,941,000. Primecap Management Co. CA bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter valued at about $397,772,000. North Reef Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 16.5% during the 1st quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 1,875,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $309,338,000 after buying an additional 265,670 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 10.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 581,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $95,933,000 after acquiring an additional 54,503 shares during the period. Finally, Azora Capital LP purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter valued at about $58,230,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Company Profile

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. operates an electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities. Its marketplace connects institutional investors and broker-dealers, enabling them to trade bonds and other debt instruments through electronic tools such as request-for-quote and open trading protocols. The platform supports trading across a range of fixed-income markets, including U.S. and European corporate bonds, U.S. Treasuries, municipal bonds, emerging-market debt and other securities. MarketAxess also provides market data and trading analytics to help clients assess prices and make trading decisions.