Truist Financial Corp Sells 7,207 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Truist Financial Corp reduced its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 83.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,207 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $249,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Claret Asset Management Corp grew its position in MarketAxess by 6.6% in 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 period. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in MarketAxess by 4.3% during the second quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,602 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 1.7% during the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 4,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $939,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 200.0% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Up 1.1%

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $179.36 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.93, a P/E/G ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 3.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $174.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.16. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.17 and a 52-week high of $232.84.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $209.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $214.06 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.88% and a net margin of 29.14%.The company’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.73 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 18th. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MKTX. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $182.00 to $178.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Argus cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $212.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. UBS Group reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised MarketAxess from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $200.40.

MarketAxess 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.