MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Sold by Sanctuary Advisors LLC

Sanctuary Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 289 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC owned 0.08% of MarketAxess worth $6,327,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MKTX. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter worth about $54,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX stock opened at $191.54 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.35, a PEG ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.02. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $188.88 and a 1-year high of $296.68. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $218.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $245.32.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 40.72%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $254.78.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

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.