State of Michigan Retirement System Cuts Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

State of Michigan Retirement System lessened its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 10,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $2,446,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in MarketAxess by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 15,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,953,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its position in MarketAxess by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $303,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in MarketAxess by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP grew its position in MarketAxess by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 1,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $249,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its position in MarketAxess by 179.5% during the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on MKTX shares. 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 research report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.78.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX opened at $208.94 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $210.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $242.26. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $186.84 and a 1 year high of $296.68. The stock has a market cap of $7.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Equities analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is presently 41.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.