MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Stake Lessened by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Key Points

• Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management reduced its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. by 37.4%, selling 22,296 shares and leaving it with approximately 0.10% ownership valued at $8,082,000.
• The company reported $2.00 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' estimates by $0.06, with revenue up 11% year-over-year.
• MarketAxess has recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, which reflects a dividend yield of 1.6%.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. reduced its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 37.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 37,357 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 22,296 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.10% of MarketAxess worth $8,082,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MKTX. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 236,118 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter worth about $46,079,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 25,960.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 183,465 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $39,693,000 after buying an additional 182,761 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 285.6% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 186,569 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $40,364,000 after buying an additional 138,191 shares during the period. Finally, North Reef Capital Management LP raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 69.6% in the 4th quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 271,318 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $61,329,000 after purchasing an additional 111,318 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on MKTX shares. Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $204.00 price objective (up from $202.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $283.00 to $274.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $295.00 to $255.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. 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, Wall Street Zen upgraded MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $229.70.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX traded up $2.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $190.04. The stock had a trading volume of 686,996 shares, compared to its average volume of 568,961. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.99, a PEG ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.84. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $182.99 and a twelve month high of $296.68. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $212.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $212.32.

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

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

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