Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Sells 14,002 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lowered its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 246,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 14,002 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $55,673,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 179.5% during the fourth 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 period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 495.2% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 13,900.0% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on MKTX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective 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. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note 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 given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.78.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MarketAxess stock opened at $219.01 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a PE ratio of 30.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $207.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $239.48. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $186.84 and a one year high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. Sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 41.82%.

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.