Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 16.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,702 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,977 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.12% of MarketAxess worth $10,557,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter worth $44,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 230.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” 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, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $254.78.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $192.79 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $213.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $243.64. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $186.84 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 return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. On average, analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.82%.

MarketAxess 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.