MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Sold by Man Group plc

Man Group plc lessened its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 34.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 61,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 31,717 shares during the period. Man Group plc’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $13,883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 179.5% during the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Allianz SE acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 495.2% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 13,900.0% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 185.7% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $263.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $232.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $241.78.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX stock opened at $216.01 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $217.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $225.41. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $186.84 and a 12 month high of $296.68. The company has a market cap of $8.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.89.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $208.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.81 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. MarketAxess’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.92 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 52.87%.

MarketAxess Company 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.