Russell Investments Group Ltd. Has $3.72 Million Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Russell Investments Group Ltd. cut its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 30.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,188 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,668 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $3,720,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 57.4% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the first quarter worth $56,000. Intact Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the first quarter worth $65,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its position in MarketAxess by 173.0% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on MKTX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen raised MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Barclays dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $237.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $204.00 price target (up from $202.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $295.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $229.70.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $188.73 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $182.99 and a one year high of $296.68. The company has a market capitalization of $7.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $208.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $211.25.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $219.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.05 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 26.62%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.72 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.18%.

MarketAxess 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.