MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Bahl & Gaynor Inc.

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lowered its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 9.7% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 48,394 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,189 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $10,610,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 347.6% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in MarketAxess by 155.8% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 1,030.8% in the first quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MKTX. Bank of America started coverage on MarketAxess in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 price target on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $241.00.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MarketAxess stock traded up $0.37 on Tuesday, hitting $222.95. The company had a trading volume of 114,384 shares, compared to its average volume of 425,365. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $192.42 and a 52 week high of $297.97. The company has a market cap of $8.45 billion, a PE ratio of 32.56, a PEG ratio of 5.81 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $205.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $218.63.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.07. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.82% and a net margin of 33.83%. The firm had revenue of $210.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.99 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.96 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 21st. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.47%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total value of $99,740.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,034,895.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

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.