MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Bought by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 76,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,114 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.20% of MarketAxess worth $17,229,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 17.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $501,907,000 after purchasing an additional 291,134 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 0.6% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,338,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $343,032,000 after purchasing an additional 8,042 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 14.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,076,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $275,122,000 after acquiring an additional 139,949 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 42.1% in the third quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 393,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,911,000 after acquiring an additional 116,607 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 8.9% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 220,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,401,000 after acquiring an additional 17,945 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Trading Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $192.91 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.27 billion, a PE ratio of 26.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $222.81 and a 200-day moving average of $246.46. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $188.88 and a 52 week high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. As a group, analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 41.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MKTX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Barclays cut their price target on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $254.78.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

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.