1,117 Shares in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX Bought by Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $249,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 200.0% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 49.1% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 57.4% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 1st quarter valued at $56,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MKTX. Argus upgraded MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $212.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $204.00 price objective (up from $202.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on MarketAxess from $295.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on MarketAxess from $283.00 to $274.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $228.09.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $178.42 on Tuesday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $176.57 and a 52 week high of $296.68. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $193.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $209.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.67 billion, a PE ratio of 30.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.88.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.06. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 26.62%.The company had revenue of $219.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $218.05 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.18%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 1,494 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.32, for a total transaction of $276,868.08. Following the sale, the executive directly owned 67,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,542,642.92. This trade represents a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 1,600 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.59, for a total value of $298,544.00. Following the sale, the director owned 43,208 shares in the company, valued at $8,062,180.72. This trade represents a 3.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

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.