MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Sold by Asset Management One Co. Ltd.

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lessened its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,269 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 162 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $3,497,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 5,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,287,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $376,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 179.5% during the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $673,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 1,342 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX opened at $191.54 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s fifty day moving average is $218.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $245.32. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $188.88 and a 1 year high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. Sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.82 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 40.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MKTX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued 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 $254.78.

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.