MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Stock Holdings Lessened by AIA Group Ltd

AIA Group Ltd lowered its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 9.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,727 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $3,665,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 316.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 11,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,367,000 after buying an additional 8,771 shares in the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. increased its holdings 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 increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 27.9% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. grew 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 purchasing an additional 5,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in MarketAxess by 0.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 34,197 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $230.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 price objective on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $247.73.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX traded down $1.08 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $212.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 282,068 shares, compared to its average volume of 429,279. The company has a market cap of $8.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 1.03. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $192.42 and a one year high of $297.97. The business’s 50-day moving average is $203.65 and its 200-day moving average is $222.41.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $210.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $212.99 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.83% and a return on equity of 20.82%. MarketAxess’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.96 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 21st. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.