State Street Corp Reduces Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

State Street Corp decreased its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 3.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,579,903 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 63,709 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned approximately 4.19% of MarketAxess worth $404,771,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 1,566 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $314,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 15,431 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,953,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,376 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,479,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 5,080 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,287,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,616 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $324,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In related 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 value of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total transaction of $5,435,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 592,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,883,880.75. This represents a 3.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,183,871 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.66% of the company's stock.

MarketAxess Stock Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:MKTX traded down $0.90 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $240.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 449,927 shares, compared to its average volume of 409,666. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.05 billion, a PE ratio of 32.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.78 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $272.72 and a 200-day moving average of $241.41. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $192.42 and a 1 year high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $206.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.32% and a return on equity of 20.93%. MarketAxess's revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $266.70.

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.