MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. reduced its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 97.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 74,565 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $359,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MKTX. Allianz SE purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 495.2% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 13,900.0% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 185.7% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in MarketAxess by 49.1% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $221.68 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $186.84 and a 1-year high of $296.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.85. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $221.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $216.01.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.57% and a return on equity of 19.93%. The firm had revenue of $208.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.81 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.92 earnings per share. MarketAxess’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MKTX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler cut their price target on MarketAxess from $213.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $232.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup raised their price target on MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, William Blair initiated coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Friday, April 4th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $241.78.

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.