MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX Shares Sold by Morningstar Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• Morningstar Investment Management LLC reduced its MarketAxess stake by 25.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 7,969 shares and leaving it with 23,007 shares worth about $4.17 million.
• Analysts remain cautious overall: Barclays and UBS both trimmed price targets, and the stock’s consensus rating is currently Hold with an average target of $190.88.
• MarketAxess recently posted solid quarterly results, with EPS of $2.25 and revenue of $233.38 million, both ahead of estimates, while also declaring a quarterly dividend of $0.78 per share.

Morningstar Investment Management LLC cut its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 25.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,007 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 7,969 shares during the quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC owned 0.06% of MarketAxess worth $4,170,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 1.8% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,323 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $579,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in MarketAxess by 4.2% in the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,676 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $302,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its position in MarketAxess by 1.9% in the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 3,522 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $614,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC raised its position in MarketAxess by 1.7% in the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 4,203 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $939,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alamar Capital Management LLC raised its position in MarketAxess by 0.5% in the third quarter. Alamar Capital Management LLC now owns 16,832 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,933,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $189.00 to $170.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings cut MarketAxess from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $195.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Argus cut MarketAxess from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $190.88.

Key Stories Impacting MarketAxess

Here are the key news stories impacting MarketAxess this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Zacks Research lowered MarketAxess’ FY2026 EPS estimate to $8.01 from $8.03, signaling slightly weaker full-year profit expectations. A Look At MarketAxess (MKTX) Valuation After Strong First Quarter 2026 Results And AI-Driven Growth
• Negative Sentiment: The analyst cut FY2027 EPS to $8.70 from $8.79 and FY2028 EPS to $9.49 from $9.58, reinforcing a slightly more cautious longer-term outlook for MKTX.
• Negative Sentiment: Several quarterly estimates were also lowered, including Q2 2026 to $1.92, Q3 2026 to $1.98, and Q4 2026 to $1.86, which may weigh on sentiment around near-term trading activity and revenue growth.
• Neutral Sentiment: Despite the cuts, Zacks still projects earnings above the current-year consensus of $8.08 per share for multiple future periods, which may limit downside if MarketAxess continues to execute well.
• Positive Sentiment: MarketAxess recently reported strong first-quarter 2026 results, including EPS and revenue that beat expectations, which continues to support the longer-term investment case. A Look At MarketAxess (MKTX) Valuation After Strong First Quarter 2026 Results And AI-Driven Growth

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $137.13 on Monday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.00 and a fifty-two week high of $228.16. The stock has a market cap of $4.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $162.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $169.96. The company has a quick ratio of 2.17, a current ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 35.53%.The business had revenue of $233.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $231.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.87 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 20th. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.88%.

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.

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