KBC Group NV Lowers Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

KBC Group NV lowered its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 71.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,833 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MKTX. Allianz SE purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 495.2% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 13,900.0% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 185.7% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in MarketAxess by 49.1% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MKTX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. William Blair began coverage on MarketAxess in a research report on Friday, April 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $232.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $241.78.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MKTX opened at $221.68 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $186.84 and a 1-year high of $296.68. The stock has a market cap of $8.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $221.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $216.01.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 19.93% and a net margin of 26.57%. The company had revenue of $208.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.81 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.92 earnings per share. MarketAxess’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.87%.

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.