MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Purchased by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 76,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,114 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $17,229,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in MarketAxess by 37.4% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,711 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,076,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 75.1% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $106,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 111.4% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,455,000 after acquiring an additional 3,407 shares during the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at $235,000. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,396 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $316,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $192.91 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $222.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $246.46. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $188.88 and a 12-month high of $296.68. The company has a market cap of $7.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. Equities research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MarketAxess news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MKTX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. 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. 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $254.78.

MarketAxess Company 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.