Stephens Investment Management Group LLC Sells 264,940 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Stephens Investment Management Group LLC reduced its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 67.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 128,937 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 264,940 shares during the quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC owned 0.34% of MarketAxess worth $29,145,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in MarketAxess by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $501,907,000 after buying an additional 291,134 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its stake in MarketAxess by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,338,922 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $343,032,000 after buying an additional 8,042 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in MarketAxess by 14.9% in 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 buying an additional 139,949 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in MarketAxess by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 220,146 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $56,401,000 after buying an additional 17,945 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in MarketAxess by 72.7% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 188,400 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $48,268,000 after buying an additional 79,300 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MarketAxess news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company's stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MarketAxess stock traded down $1.49 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $191.42. The company had a trading volume of 430,990 shares, compared to its average volume of 538,800. The firm has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a PE ratio of 26.33, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $188.88 and a one year high of $296.68. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $222.81 and a 200 day moving average of $246.46.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. As a group, research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from MarketAxess's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio is presently 40.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target 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.