William Frank Jr. Cruger Sells 6,164 Shares of MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) Stock

Key Points

• Director William Frank Jr. Cruger sold 6,164 MarketAxess shares at an average price of $163.20, generating approximately $1.01 million and reducing his direct stake by 60.45% to 4,033 shares.
• MarketAxess reported quarterly EPS of $1.95, exceeding estimates of $1.85, while revenue of $218.41 million slightly topped forecasts but declined 0.5% year over year.
• The stock traded near $163, while analysts maintained a consensus “Hold” rating with an average price target of $156.10; the company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.78, yielding about 1.9% annually.

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) Director William Frank Jr. Cruger sold 6,164 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.20, for a total transaction of $1,005,964.80. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $658,185.60. This represents a 60.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.1%

MKTX stock traded down $0.09 during trading on Friday, reaching $163.00. 892,280 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 740,768. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a PE ratio of 19.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.83. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $108.75 and a 52-week high of $195.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.85. The business's 50 day moving average price is $145.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $149.70.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.22% and a return on equity of 22.48%. The firm had revenue of $218.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $216.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.00 EPS. The company's revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $168.00 to $130.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Barclays upped their price target on MarketAxess from $132.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $175.00 to $128.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Bank of America raised shares of MarketAxess from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $170.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Benchmark restated a "buy" rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $156.10.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 34.9% during the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 19,749 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,241,000 after buying an additional 5,107 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 104.7% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 32,462 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,684,000 after acquiring an additional 16,604 shares in the last quarter. Nykredit A S bought a new position in MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter valued at $199,000. Corient Private Wealth LP boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 102.1% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 4,834 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $549,000 after acquiring an additional 2,442 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter worth $272,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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