Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 5,587 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 86.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 906 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 5,587 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC's holdings in MarketAxess were worth $205,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter worth $71,103,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $452,246,000 after purchasing an additional 236,497 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at about $46,079,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,076,877 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $275,122,000 after purchasing an additional 139,949 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 8,277.4% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 119,797 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $27,079,000 after purchasing an additional 118,367 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

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MarketAxess Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of MKTX stock traded up $0.07 on Wednesday, reaching $224.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 484,538. The company has a market capitalization of $8.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $205.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $234.85. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $186.84 and a 1 year high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. Equities research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from MarketAxess's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. MarketAxess's payout ratio is currently 41.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley upgraded MarketAxess from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $220.00 to $213.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, William Blair began coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Friday, April 4th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $252.11.

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.