We wouldn't blame MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) shareholders if they were a little worried about the fact that Richard McVey, the Founder & Executive Chairman recently netted about US$14m selling shares at an average price of US$270. However, it's crucial to note that they remain very much invested in the stock and that sale only reduced their holding by 9.6%.

MarketAxess Holdings Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent sale by Richard McVey was the biggest sale of MarketAxess Holdings shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. So we know that an insider sold shares at around the present share price of US$262. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. In this case, the big sale took place at around the current price, so it's not too bad (but it's still not a positive).

MarketAxess Holdings insiders didn't buy any shares over the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

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Does MarketAxess Holdings Boast High Insider Ownership?

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It's great to see that MarketAxess Holdings insiders own 1.9% of the company, worth about US$183m. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.

So What Do The MarketAxess Holdings Insider Transactions Indicate?

Insiders sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. Looking to the last twelve months, our data doesn't show any insider buying. On the plus side, MarketAxess Holdings makes money, and is growing profits. It is good to see high insider ownership, but the insider selling leaves us cautious. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing MarketAxess Holdings. While conducting our analysis, we found that MarketAxess Holdings has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore this.

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For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.