Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Cuts Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lessened its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 0.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 53,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 172 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $10,652,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in MarketAxess by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,539,440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $995,272,000 after buying an additional 13,018 shares in the last quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd increased its stake in MarketAxess by 30.3% in the 1st 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 last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in MarketAxess by 10.3% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,828,055 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $366,580,000 after purchasing an additional 170,095 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted 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 worth $266,881,000 after purchasing an additional 204,960 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 40.0% during the 1st 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 own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $257.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.91 and a quick ratio of 2.91. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $192.42 and a 1-year high of $297.97. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $237.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $218.44. The company has a market capitalization of $9.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.78, a P/E/G ratio of 5.99 and a beta of 1.07.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $197.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $198.07 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.71% and a return on equity of 20.43%. The company’s revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. Research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.47%.

MarketAxess declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, August 6th that authorizes the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In related news, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 7,409 shares in the company, valued at $1,716,146.67. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MarketAxess 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.