MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX Shares Sold by New York Life Investment Management LLC

New York Life Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 58.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,175 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $653,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

MarketAxess Trading Up 1.1%

MKTX opened at $179.36 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 3.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.17 and a 52 week high of $232.84. The business’s 50 day moving average is $174.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.16. The firm has a market cap of $6.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.97.

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

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business 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 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 46.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $200.40.

About MarketAxess

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.