Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Has $3.37 Million Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio reduced its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 5.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 961 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $3,372,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 347.6% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 155.8% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 2,428.6% in the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MKTX shares. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $230.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Barclays decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Bank of America assumed coverage on MarketAxess in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $241.00.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX opened at $221.22 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $206.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $216.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.93 and a beta of 1.03. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $192.42 and a 52-week high of $297.97.

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

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were issued a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 43.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total value of $99,740.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,034,895.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, 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.