MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX Shares Bought by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 39,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,697 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.10% of MarketAxess worth $8,722,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,323,015 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $502,585,000 after acquiring an additional 24,606 shares in the last quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 1.4% during the first quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP now owns 680,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $147,118,000 after purchasing an additional 9,100 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 329.4% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 618,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,904,000 after purchasing an additional 474,776 shares during the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 64.8% during the 1st quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 402,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $87,083,000 after purchasing an additional 158,240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 372,468 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $80,583,000 after buying an additional 9,244 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on MKTX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on MarketAxess from $194.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday. Zacks Research cut MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Piper Sandler set a $180.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $209.91.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $169.73 on Thursday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.17 and a fifty-two week high of $273.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.44 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $173.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $198.01.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $208.82 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.59 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 26.62%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.90 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 19th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 51.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 1,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.59, for a total transaction of $298,544.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 43,208 shares in the company, valued at $8,062,180.72. This trade represents a 3.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 1,494 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.32, for a total value of $276,868.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive owned 67,681 shares in the company, valued at $12,542,642.92. This represents a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.65% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.