2Xideas AG Sells 14,436 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

2Xideas AG lessened its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 28.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,282 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 14,436 shares during the period. 2Xideas AG owned 0.10% of MarketAxess worth $7,955,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 30.3% in the first quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 2,425,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $531,878,000 after purchasing an additional 564,820 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at about $128,535,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in MarketAxess by 21.2% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,657,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $363,508,000 after acquiring an additional 290,347 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its position in MarketAxess by 40.0% during the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 716,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $157,134,000 after acquiring an additional 204,660 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 7,385.0% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 159,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,733,000 after acquiring an additional 157,448 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MKTX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Bank of America started coverage on MarketAxess in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 target price for the company. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $230.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $241.00.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.4 %

MarketAxess stock traded up $0.79 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $224.02. The company had a trading volume of 218,513 shares, compared to its average volume of 421,835. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $206.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $216.49. The company has a market cap of $8.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.90, a P/E/G ratio of 5.99 and a beta of 1.03. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $192.42 and a fifty-two week high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.07. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.82% and a net margin of 33.83%. The company had revenue of $210.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.99 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.96 EPS. MarketAxess’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 21st. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.47%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total transaction of $99,740.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,034,895.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.