MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX Shares Sold by Alps Advisors Inc.

Alps Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 30.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 14,443 shares during the quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. owned 0.09% of MarketAxess worth $5,623,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 5,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,105,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Claret Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 6.6% during the second quarter. Claret Asset Management Corp now owns 1,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $236,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 4.3% during the second quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,602 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $358,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 4,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $939,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $171.23 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 3.42 and a quick ratio of 2.60. The company has a market cap of $6.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $173.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.79. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.17 and a 1-year high of $232.84.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $209.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $214.06 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.88% and a net margin of 29.14%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.73 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be given a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 45.65%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Loop Capital set a $164.00 price target on MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Argus decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $212.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $200.40.

MarketAxess Company Profile

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates a leading global electronic trading platform specializing in fixed-income securities and related products. The company’s network enables institutional investors and broker-dealers to trade corporate bonds, municipal securities, emerging markets debt, U.S. Treasuries and credit default swaps in an automated, multi-dealer environment. MarketAxess also offers portfolio trading, data analytics, best-execution tools and post-trade services to streamline workflows and enhance price discovery across its marketplace.

In addition to core voice-like trading protocols, MarketAxess provides Open Trading®, an anonymous, all-to-all trading protocol designed to improve liquidity and transaction efficiency.