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

Key Points

• MarketAxess General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 100 shares at an average price of $163.32, reducing his direct holdings by 0.86% to 11,486 shares. He has also sold 100 shares each in July and August.
• MarketAxess shares traded near $163, with the stock up from its 52-week low of $108.75 but below its $195.96 high. The company exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, while revenue declined 0.5% year over year.
• The company pays a quarterly dividend of $0.78, equivalent to a 1.9% annualized yield. Analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating with a $156.10 target price, despite institutional investors owning 99.01% of the stock.

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 100 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.32, for a total value of $16,332.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,875,893.52. The trade was a 0.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

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

• On Monday, August 10th, Scott Pintoff sold 100 shares of MarketAxess stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $16,260.00.
• On Friday, July 10th, Scott Pintoff sold 100 shares of MarketAxess stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.12, for a total value of $11,512.00.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $163.00. 892,280 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 740,768. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $149.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current 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.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $218.41 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $216.70 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.48% and a net margin of 35.22%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.00 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were paid a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. MarketAxess's payout ratio is currently 36.79%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 10,925.6% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,816,856 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $546,665,000 after purchasing an additional 4,773,168 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the second quarter worth about $453,941,000. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the second quarter valued at about $397,772,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 169.0% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,558,097 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $463,655,000 after buying an additional 1,607,009 shares in the last quarter. Finally, North Reef Capital Management LP lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 265,670 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on MKTX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $168.00 to $130.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $195.00 to $129.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $132.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $175.00 to $128.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $156.10.

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates an electronic trading platform for institutional fixed-income markets. Through its technology, investors and dealers can trade corporate bonds, government securities, emerging-market debt and other credit products in an electronic environment designed to improve access, execution and transparency.

The company's offerings include its Open Trading marketplace, which connects a broad network of institutional participants, as well as a range of trading protocols that support different liquidity and execution needs.

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