LRT Capital Management LLC Sells 2,548 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

LRT Capital Management LLC cut its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 57.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,856 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 2,548 shares during the quarter. LRT Capital Management LLC's holdings in MarketAxess were worth $420,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,340 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its position in MarketAxess by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 1,701 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $384,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP boosted its position in MarketAxess by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 1,102 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its stake in MarketAxess by 179.5% during the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 422 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MKTX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $263.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Friday, April 4th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. UBS Group cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Citigroup boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $241.78.

MarketAxess Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX traded up $2.71 on Thursday, reaching $213.53. The company had a trading volume of 378,654 shares, compared to its average volume of 498,521. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $217.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $226.92. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $186.84 and a twelve month high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $208.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.81 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. The business's revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.92 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio is presently 52.87%.

MarketAxess Company 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.