Congress Asset Management Co. Reduces Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Key Points

• Congress Asset Management Co. reduced its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. by 16.2%, owning approximately 0.76% of the company after selling 55,462 shares.
• MarketAxess reported $2.00 EPS for the latest quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations, with revenue growth of 11.0% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 1.7%.

Congress Asset Management Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 16.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 286,276 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 55,462 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. owned approximately 0.76% of MarketAxess worth $63,937,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 200.0% in 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 in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in MarketAxess by 49.1% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 164 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess during the second quarter valued at about $37,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in MarketAxess by 57.4% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 222 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the first quarter worth about $56,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $178.17 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.88. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $176.57 and a 52-week high of $296.68. The firm's fifty day moving average is $191.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $209.08.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.06. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 26.62%.The firm had revenue of $219.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $218.05 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.72 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio is 51.18%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $283.00 to $274.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Argus upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $212.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $237.00 to $200.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $204.00 price target (up previously from $202.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $228.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 1,494 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.32, for a total transaction of $276,868.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive directly owned 67,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,542,642.92. This represents a 2.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 1,600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.59, for a total transaction of $298,544.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 43,208 shares in the company, valued at $8,062,180.72. This represents a 3.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.65% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About MarketAxess

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.

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