MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX Shares Sold by Bahl & Gaynor Inc.

Key Points

• Bahl & Gaynor Inc. reduced its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. by 4.6%, selling 1,936 shares to hold 40,149 shares valued at approximately $8.69 million.
• MarketAxess recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, with an annualized yield of 1.6% and a payout ratio of 51.18%.
• Shares of MarketAxess are currently trading with a 52-week range of $182.99 to $296.68, and the company reported an EPS of $2.00, exceeding expectations.

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. cut its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 4.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 40,149 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 1,936 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. owned about 0.11% of MarketAxess worth $8,686,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in MarketAxess by 23.1% in the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 976 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $211,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 26.2% in the 1st quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 4,432 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $959,000 after purchasing an additional 920 shares during the last quarter. Norinchukin Bank The increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 14.4% in the first quarter. Norinchukin Bank The now owns 1,968 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $426,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. CW Advisors LLC increased its stake in MarketAxess by 27.8% in the 1st quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 38,296 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $8,285,000 after buying an additional 8,331 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in MarketAxess by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,323,015 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $502,585,000 after buying an additional 24,606 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $283.00 to $274.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Citigroup boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group cut their target price on MarketAxess from $295.00 to $255.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Argus upgraded MarketAxess from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $212.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $228.09.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ MKTX traded down $0.37 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $189.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 551,893 shares, compared to its average volume of 671,666. The company's 50-day moving average is $207.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $211.18. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $182.99 and a fifty-two week high of $296.68. The stock has a market cap of $7.09 billion, a PE ratio of 31.95, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.84.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $219.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $218.05 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.62% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.72 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 20th. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio is 51.18%.

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.