PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Reduces Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 55 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $660,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Andra AP fonden purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth about $5,922,000. Candriam S.C.A. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 4,296 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $971,000 after buying an additional 899 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 15,496 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,503,000 after buying an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth about $46,079,000. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 10,964 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,478,000 after buying an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $217.36 on Wednesday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $186.84 and a one year high of $296.68. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $207.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $240.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.90, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a $0.76 dividend. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MKTX. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One investment 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 data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.