Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Sells 14,002 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership cut its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 246,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 14,002 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned about 0.65% of MarketAxess worth $55,673,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Hawaiian Bank bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter worth $1,088,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 363,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $82,103,000 after buying an additional 5,153 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 18.2% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 8,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,842,000 after buying an additional 1,256 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at about $539,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,079,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of MKTX opened at $219.01 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $186.84 and a twelve month high of $296.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50 day moving average of $207.65 and a 200-day moving average of $239.48.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were given a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 41.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $254.78.

MarketAxess 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.