Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 2,889 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 6.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,813 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,889 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of MarketAxess worth $9,479,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,434,946 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,002,475,000 after buying an additional 90,805 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,300,536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $520,013,000 after acquiring an additional 341,493 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,298,409 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $519,533,000 after acquiring an additional 236,118 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,369,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $309,472,000 after acquiring an additional 30,180 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,113,308 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $251,106,000 after acquiring an additional 36,431 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $217.25 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $220.66 and a 200-day moving average of $215.53. The stock has a market cap of $8.15 billion, a PE ratio of 37.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.85. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $186.84 and a 52-week high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $208.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.81 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.92 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 21st. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MKTX shares. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $213.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $240.00 to $237.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Friday, April 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $295.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $241.44.

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.