Envestnet Asset Management Inc. Reduces Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 62.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 38,359 shares during the quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.06% of MarketAxess worth $4,060,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. AGF Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 16,838 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,934,000 after acquiring an additional 2,524 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in MarketAxess by 4.2% during the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 258.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 184,857 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,211,000 after purchasing an additional 133,260 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in MarketAxess by 110.8% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 31,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,568,000 after purchasing an additional 16,796 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in MarketAxess by 90.2% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 9,417 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after buying an additional 4,465 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $181.65 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 3.42. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.75 billion, a PE ratio of 27.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.97. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.17 and a 52-week high of $232.84.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $209.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $214.06 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 29.14% and a return on equity of 20.88%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.73 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be given a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 18th. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on MarketAxess from $194.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Argus dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $212.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $200.40.

MarketAxess Profile

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates a leading global electronic trading platform specializing in fixed-income securities and related products. The company’s network enables institutional investors and broker-dealers to trade corporate bonds, municipal securities, emerging markets debt, U.S. Treasuries and credit default swaps in an automated, multi-dealer environment. MarketAxess also offers portfolio trading, data analytics, best-execution tools and post-trade services to streamline workflows and enhance price discovery across its marketplace.

In addition to core voice-like trading protocols, MarketAxess provides Open Trading®, an anonymous, all-to-all trading protocol designed to improve liquidity and transaction efficiency.