Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Trims Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 97.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor 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 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. Allianz SE bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 495.2% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 13,900.0% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 49.1% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 164 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 185.7% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 160 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MarketAxess Stock Down 1.1%

NASDAQ:MKTX traded down $2.54 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $219.41. 121,442 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 497,307. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $186.84 and a 12-month high of $296.68. The company has a market cap of $8.23 billion, a PE ratio of 38.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.85. The business's 50-day moving average price is $221.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $215.86.

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

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MKTX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. William Blair started coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Friday, April 4th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $232.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MarketAxess from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target 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.