Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Trims Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc reduced its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 47.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 12,145 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $2,707,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MKTX. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 30.3% during the first quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 2,425,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $531,878,000 after acquiring an additional 564,820 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in MarketAxess by 21.2% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,657,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $363,508,000 after purchasing an additional 290,347 shares during the period. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 120.6% during the 2nd quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 393,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $78,823,000 after buying an additional 214,928 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 18.2% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,330,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $266,881,000 after buying an additional 204,960 shares during the period. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 40.0% in the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 716,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $157,134,000 after buying an additional 204,660 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on MKTX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on MarketAxess from $218.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.60.

Insider Activity

In other MarketAxess news, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.63, for a total value of $142,915.71. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,716,146.67. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $254.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 2.91 and a current ratio of 2.91. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $240.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $219.88. The stock has a market cap of $9.62 billion, a PE ratio of 37.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.04 and a beta of 1.07. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $192.42 and a one year high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.04. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.43% and a net margin of 33.71%. The business had revenue of $197.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $198.07 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.16%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 43.47%.

MarketAxess announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.