MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Sold by Stephens Investment Management Group LLC

Stephens Investment Management Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 67.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 128,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 264,940 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC owned 0.34% of MarketAxess worth $29,145,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at about $358,000. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 218.8% during the fourth quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 9,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,201,000 after acquiring an additional 6,684 shares in the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 179.5% in the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 3,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $822,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in MarketAxess by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 76,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,229,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MarketAxess news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were 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 $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective 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 lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. UBS Group cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $257.33.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $201.37 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $226.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $247.22. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $192.42 and a 12 month high of $296.68. The company has a market capitalization of $7.59 billion, a PE ratio of 27.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.05 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.72%.

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.