Jackson Square Partners LLC Sells 23,766 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Jackson Square Partners LLC lowered its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 16.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 117,411 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 23,766 shares during the period. MarketAxess makes up 2.9% of Jackson Square Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Jackson Square Partners LLC owned 0.31% of MarketAxess worth $26,540,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter worth approximately $71,103,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $501,907,000 after buying an additional 291,134 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $452,246,000 after purchasing an additional 236,497 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,079,000. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter valued at approximately $42,967,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX traded down $2.26 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $216.75. 365,011 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 460,718. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $186.84 and a one year high of $296.68. The company's 50 day moving average is $207.57 and its 200 day moving average is $239.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a PE ratio of 29.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05.

Remove Ads

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

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. This is an increase from MarketAxess's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio is 41.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on MKTX. Barclays lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $254.78.

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.