Stiles Financial Services Inc Has $1.61 Million Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Stiles Financial Services Inc raised its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 926 shares during the period. Stiles Financial Services Inc’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,614,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 2,428.6% in the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 405.1% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 47.4% in the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter worth approximately $54,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on MKTX. Citigroup raised their price target on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on MarketAxess from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $237.00 to $268.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Two equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $263.40.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.0 %

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $274.36 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.36 billion, a PE ratio of 39.54, a P/E/G ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a fifty day moving average of $269.85 and a 200 day moving average of $232.80. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $192.42 and a 1 year high of $297.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.91 and a quick ratio of 2.91.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.71% and a return on equity of 20.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.08%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.65%.

MarketAxess declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, August 6th that authorizes the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.