MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Short Interest Up 15.5% in November

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 758,000 shares, an increase of 15.5% from the November 15th total of 656,200 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 394,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days. Approximately 2.1% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on MKTX. Barclays reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $289.00 to $260.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $266.70.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $232.92 on Tuesday. MarketAxess has a 12-month low of $192.42 and a 12-month high of $297.97. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $269.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $242.39. The company has a market cap of $8.78 billion, a PE ratio of 31.56, a PEG ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 1.00.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The company had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that MarketAxess will post 7.38 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.11%.

Insider Activity

In other MarketAxess news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total transaction of $5,435,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 592,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,883,880.75. This trade represents a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter valued at $1,966,000. Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its stake in MarketAxess by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 15,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,926,000 after purchasing an additional 3,121 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 22.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 55,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,265,000 after purchasing an additional 10,361 shares during the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 1.5% during the second quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 164,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,913,000 after purchasing an additional 2,485 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in MarketAxess by 32.5% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 82,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,237,000 after buying an additional 20,334 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

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.