State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Has $2.77 Million Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 37.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 13,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,380 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $2,767,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 5,137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,126,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,479,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 155.8% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 47.4% in the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 11,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,230,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective 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. Barclays cut their price objective 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, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective 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. Two equities research 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 MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.60.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In related 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,716,146.67. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $259.83 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.91, a quick ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $192.42 and a 1-year high of $297.97. The company has a 50 day moving average of $235.57 and a 200-day moving average of $217.80. The company has a market cap of $9.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.15, a PEG 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $198.07 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.71% and a return on equity of 20.43%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.47%.

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

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.