Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Has $359,000 Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lessened its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 97.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,658 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 74,565 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.'s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $359,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in MarketAxess by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,434,946 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,002,475,000 after acquiring an additional 90,805 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in MarketAxess by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,300,536 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $520,013,000 after buying an additional 341,493 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in MarketAxess by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,298,409 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $519,533,000 after buying an additional 236,118 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in MarketAxess by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,369,102 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $309,472,000 after buying an additional 30,180 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in MarketAxess by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,113,308 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $251,106,000 after buying an additional 36,431 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of MKTX stock traded up $1.78 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $218.51. 42,935 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 497,306. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $221.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $215.92. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $186.84 and a 1-year high of $296.68. The company has a market cap of $8.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.85.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 19.93% and a net margin of 26.57%. The firm had revenue of $208.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.81 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.92 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 21st. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio is presently 52.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on MKTX shares. William Blair started coverage on MarketAxess in a research report on Friday, April 4th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on MarketAxess from $263.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Bank of America increased their price objective on MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $241.78.

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.