Comerica Bank Sells 157 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Comerica Bank lessened its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 157 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,160,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. Norges Bank bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at about $119,095,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,300,536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $520,013,000 after purchasing an additional 341,493 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at about $71,103,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $452,246,000 after purchasing an additional 236,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,298,409 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $519,533,000 after purchasing an additional 236,118 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX stock opened at $230.97 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50-day moving average of $216.59 and a 200-day moving average of $227.61. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $186.84 and a fifty-two week high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. The company had revenue of $208.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.81 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.92 earnings per share. MarketAxess’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Citigroup increased their price target on MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on MarketAxess from $263.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $213.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $241.78.

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.