Nicolet Advisory Services LLC Acquires New Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Nicolet Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $239,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in MarketAxess by 405.1% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 47.4% in the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter valued at $54,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MKTX opened at $260.35 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.28, a PEG ratio of 11.69 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50-day moving average of $273.23 and a 200-day moving average of $238.10. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $192.42 and a 1-year high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 40.11%.

MarketAxess announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on MKTX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $267.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MarketAxess news, 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 value of $2,676,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 562,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,438,302.43. This represents a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

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.