Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. Cuts Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. reduced its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 195,676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 12,118 shares during the quarter. MarketAxess accounts for about 2.3% of Tandem Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.52% of MarketAxess worth $57,304,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quantum Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at about $206,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new position in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $525,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $674,000. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $268,000. Finally, Stiles Financial Services Inc raised its position in MarketAxess by 71.8% during the 4th quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 3,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $919,000 after purchasing an additional 1,311 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on MKTX shares. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $250.00 to $237.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Bank of America started coverage on MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $263.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $239.00 to $236.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $252.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.26, for a total transaction of $442,520.00. Following the sale, the executive now directly owns 70,092 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,508,555.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX stock traded down $0.84 on Wednesday, reaching $201.93. 467,666 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 430,158. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $200.01 and a one year high of $341.92. The company has a market cap of $7.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $217.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $237.86.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.11. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 21.76% and a net margin of 34.29%. The business had revenue of $197.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $196.70 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.58 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 13th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.21%.

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.