MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Sold by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV trimmed its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 10.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,704 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 199 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $385,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Creative Planning grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 8.6% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after buying an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 25,593.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 22,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,793,000 after buying an additional 22,522 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 99.1% during the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $618,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 42.6% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 3,429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $874,000 after buying an additional 1,024 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter valued at $1,947,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $194.26 on Tuesday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $186.84 and a fifty-two week high of $296.68. The business has a 50-day moving average of $215.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $244.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.02.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced 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 return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. As a group, research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 41.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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