California State Teachers Retirement System Buys 8,478 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 24.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,478 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $7,208,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new position in MarketAxess in the second quarter worth $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 200.0% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Finally, Westpac Banking Corp bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 1st quarter worth approximately $56,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MKTX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $175.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. UBS Group cut MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $200.00 to $167.00 in a research note on Friday. Bank of America raised MarketAxess from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $160.18.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $162.35 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $121.61 and its 200 day moving average is $151.55. The company has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a PE ratio of 19.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.04 and a beta of 0.83. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $108.75 and a twelve month high of $210.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.48% and a net margin of 35.22%.The firm had revenue of $218.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $216.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.79%.

MarketAxess Profile

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.