Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. Reduces Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. trimmed its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 600 shares during the period. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $5,066,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MKTX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,184,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,423,499,000 after acquiring an additional 25,208 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 18.3% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,928,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,537,253,000 after purchasing an additional 608,107 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,071,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $577,691,000 after purchasing an additional 19,225 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,868,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $635,737,000 after purchasing an additional 13,367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 2.0% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,705,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $364,462,000 after purchasing an additional 33,288 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 2,000 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.26, for a total transaction of $442,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 70,092 shares in the company, valued at $15,508,555.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $202.77 on Wednesday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $200.01 and a fifty-two week high of $341.92. The firm has a market cap of $7.62 billion, a PE ratio of 29.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $217.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $237.86.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.11. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.29% and a return on equity of 21.76%. The business had revenue of $197.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $196.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.58 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 13th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MKTX shares. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $229.00 to $210.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 price target on the stock. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $239.00 to $236.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $252.80.

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.