State of Alaska Department of Revenue Lowers Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue trimmed its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 105 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $971,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter worth $25,000. Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter worth $54,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 555.6% during the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MarketAxess stock opened at $191.42 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $188.88 and a 1-year high of $296.68. The stock has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a PE ratio of 26.33, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $222.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $246.46.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. On average, research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 40.72%.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

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 transaction of $72,171.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on MKTX shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $254.78.

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.