Aigen Investment Management LP Lowers Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Aigen Investment Management LP trimmed its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 45.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,686 shares during the quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 48.4% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 11,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,547,000 after purchasing an additional 3,787 shares during the period. Natixis acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 1st quarter worth about $842,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 207.3% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,100,000 after purchasing an additional 9,539 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 46.2% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,735,000 after buying an additional 2,513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the 1st quarter worth about $2,719,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total value of $5,435,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 592,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,883,880.75. This represents a 3.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MKTX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $267.50.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MarketAxess stock opened at $264.98 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $272.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $235.13. The stock has a market cap of $9.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.27 and a beta of 1.05. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $192.42 and a 1-year high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The company had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, August 6th that permits the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 40.11%.

MarketAxess Company 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.