Headlands Technologies LLC Sells 331 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Headlands Technologies LLC cut its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 10.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 331 shares during the quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $623,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at $119,095,000. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at about $71,103,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in MarketAxess by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $452,246,000 after buying an additional 236,497 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,079,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in MarketAxess by 14.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,076,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $275,122,000 after acquiring an additional 139,949 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $210.83 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.00, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $207.07 and a 200 day moving average of $238.18. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $186.84 and a 52 week high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. Equities research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were given a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on MKTX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America raised their price objective on MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $255.44.

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.