Morningstar Investment Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Morningstar Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 25.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,969 shares during the quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $4,170,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 200.0% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Stance Capital LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MKTX. Barclays decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $189.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods began coverage on MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $195.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Weiss Ratings lowered MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $190.88.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $137.13 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $4.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.21, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.92. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $135.00 and a 12-month high of $228.16. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $162.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $169.96.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $233.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $231.91 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 35.53%.The company’s revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.87 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be paid a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 20th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 36.88%.

Trending Headlines about MarketAxess

Here are the key news stories impacting MarketAxess this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Zacks Research lowered MarketAxess’ FY2026 EPS estimate to $8.01 from $8.03, signaling slightly weaker full-year profit expectations. A Look At MarketAxess (MKTX) Valuation After Strong First Quarter 2026 Results And AI-Driven Growth
• Negative Sentiment: The analyst cut FY2027 EPS to $8.70 from $8.79 and FY2028 EPS to $9.49 from $9.58, reinforcing a slightly more cautious longer-term outlook for MKTX.
• Negative Sentiment: Several quarterly estimates were also lowered, including Q2 2026 to $1.92, Q3 2026 to $1.98, and Q4 2026 to $1.86, which may weigh on sentiment around near-term trading activity and revenue growth.
• Neutral Sentiment: Despite the cuts, Zacks still projects earnings above the current-year consensus of $8.08 per share for multiple future periods, which may limit downside if MarketAxess continues to execute well.
• Positive Sentiment: MarketAxess recently reported strong first-quarter 2026 results, including EPS and revenue that beat expectations, which continues to support the longer-term investment case. A Look At MarketAxess (MKTX) Valuation After Strong First Quarter 2026 Results And AI-Driven Growth

MarketAxess Profile

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates a leading global electronic trading platform specializing in fixed-income securities and related products. The company’s network enables institutional investors and broker-dealers to trade corporate bonds, municipal securities, emerging markets debt, U.S. Treasuries and credit default swaps in an automated, multi-dealer environment. MarketAxess also offers portfolio trading, data analytics, best-execution tools and post-trade services to streamline workflows and enhance price discovery across its marketplace.

In addition to core voice-like trading protocols, MarketAxess provides Open Trading®, an anonymous, all-to-all trading protocol designed to improve liquidity and transaction efficiency.