Centaurus Financial Inc. Cuts Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Centaurus Financial Inc. cut its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 89 shares during the quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $109,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in MarketAxess by 405.1% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the third quarter worth about $54,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its position in MarketAxess by 555.6% in the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $261.71 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $192.42 and a 52-week high of $297.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.85 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a fifty day moving average of $273.41 and a 200-day moving average of $239.06.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. The company had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, August 6th that authorizes the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.13%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.11%.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 562,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,438,302.43. This represents a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MKTX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $267.50.

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.