MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Sold by Oak Thistle LLC

Oak Thistle LLC reduced its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 24.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 348 shares during the quarter. Oak Thistle LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $239,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 316.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 11,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,367,000 after acquiring an additional 8,771 shares during the period. Pinebridge Investments L.P. grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 84.0% in the fourth quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 9,861 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,888,000 after buying an additional 4,502 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 96,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,253,000 after buying an additional 21,041 shares during the period. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in MarketAxess by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 176,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,584,000 after acquiring an additional 5,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,526,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,325,563,000 after acquiring an additional 34,197 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Trading Down 3.6 %

NASDAQ MKTX traded down $7.14 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $193.39. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 449,972 shares, compared to its average volume of 436,617. The stock has a market cap of $7.33 billion, a PE ratio of 28.40, a PEG ratio of 5.03 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $203.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $226.53. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $192.42 and a 52 week high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.07. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.82% and a net margin of 33.83%. The business had revenue of $210.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.99 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.96 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.17 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were issued a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MKTX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $250.00 to $237.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $236.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $249.73.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In other news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total value of $99,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,034,895.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.