Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $2.12 Million Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Retirement Systems of Alabama reduced its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 107 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $2,115,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 405.1% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at $54,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 555.6% during the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MKTX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $289.00 to $260.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on MarketAxess from $276.00 to $255.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $264.60.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MKTX opened at $230.15 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.68 billion, a PE ratio of 31.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 1.00. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $192.42 and a one year high of $297.97. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $266.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $242.69.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The firm’s revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. Analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.38 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were paid a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 40.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MarketAxess news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 562,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,438,302.43. This represents a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871. 2.66% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.