Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Sells 172 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado cut its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 172 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado owned 0.14% of MarketAxess worth $10,652,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in MarketAxess by 120.6% during the 2nd quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 393,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $78,823,000 after buying an additional 214,928 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 17.5% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 141,272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,303,000 after acquiring an additional 21,089 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 13.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $653,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 18.2% in the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,330,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $266,881,000 after purchasing an additional 204,960 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 3,066.1% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 164,636 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,014,000 after purchasing an additional 159,436 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.63, for a total transaction of $142,915.71. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,716,146.67. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Down 0.8 %

MKTX stock opened at $257.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 2.91 and a current ratio of 2.91. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $192.42 and a fifty-two week high of $297.97. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $237.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $218.44. The company has a market cap of $9.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.99 and a beta of 1.07.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $197.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $198.07 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.43% and a net margin of 33.71%. MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.63 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, August 6th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 43.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MKTX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $218.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.60.

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.