Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 27,810 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 0.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,407,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 27,810 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 11.85% of MarketAxess worth $953,484,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 49.1% in the 1st 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. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 57.4% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 1st quarter valued at about $56,000. Intact Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 1st quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 173.0% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MKTX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $204.00 price target (up previously from $202.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $229.70.

MarketAxess Trading Up 1.2%

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $189.27 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $215.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $213.14. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $182.99 and a 1 year high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $219.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $218.05 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.62% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.18%.

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.