Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. Lowers Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. cut its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 24.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 10,903 shares during the quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. owned about 0.09% of MarketAxess worth $8,807,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in MarketAxess by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,539,440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $995,272,000 after purchasing an additional 13,018 shares during the last quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 30.3% during the 1st quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 2,425,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $531,878,000 after acquiring an additional 564,820 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in MarketAxess by 10.3% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,828,055 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $366,580,000 after acquiring an additional 170,095 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 18.2% in the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,330,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $266,881,000 after acquiring an additional 204,960 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 53.5% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 820,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $164,447,000 after purchasing an additional 285,665 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $274.41 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.54, a PEG ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $269.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $232.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 2.91 and a current ratio of 2.91. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $192.42 and a fifty-two week high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.17 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.43% and a net margin of 33.71%. MarketAxess’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, August 6th that permits the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.65%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MKTX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on MarketAxess from $218.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $263.40.

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.