Man Group plc Reduces Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Man Group plc lowered its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 34.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 61,418 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 31,717 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc owned about 0.16% of MarketAxess worth $13,883,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Keybank National Association OH grew its position in MarketAxess by 18.2% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 8,149 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,842,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 363,224 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $82,103,000 after buying an additional 5,153 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth approximately $539,000. Taika Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,689,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth about $46,079,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on MKTX shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. William Blair began coverage on MarketAxess in a report on Friday, April 4th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $213.00 to $202.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $241.78.

MarketAxess Stock Down 1.4%

MarketAxess stock traded down $3.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $219.64. The company had a trading volume of 445,695 shares, compared to its average volume of 499,695. The business has a fifty day moving average of $217.81 and a 200 day moving average of $224.47. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $186.84 and a 1 year high of $296.68. The stock has a market cap of $8.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.21, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.89.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. The company had revenue of $208.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $211.81 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.92 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio is presently 52.87%.

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.