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

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 10.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 75,109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,221 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $19,243,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Natixis acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 1st quarter valued at $842,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 207.3% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,100,000 after buying an additional 9,539 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 46.2% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,735,000 after buying an additional 2,513 shares during the period. Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the first quarter worth approximately $2,719,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the first quarter valued at approximately $914,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MKTX shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $267.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MarketAxess news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 562,029 shares in the company, valued at $150,438,302.43. This trade represents a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Down 1.3 %

MKTX stock opened at $261.65 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $272.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $235.98. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $192.42 and a 12 month high of $297.97. The company has a market capitalization of $9.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.45, a P/E/G ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 1.05.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. MarketAxess’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 40.11%.

MarketAxess declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 6th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.