Comerica Bank Has $1.67 Million Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Comerica Bank trimmed its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 81 shares during the period. Comerica Bank’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,666,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,705,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $364,462,000 after buying an additional 33,288 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,367,613 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $400,506,000 after buying an additional 101,829 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,122,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $328,742,000 after buying an additional 4,340 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 385.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 545,563 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $116,554,000 after buying an additional 433,217 shares during the period. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 540,927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $115,564,000 after buying an additional 23,070 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $250.00 to $237.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $236.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $263.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $249.73.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MKTX stock traded up $2.40 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $216.89. 215,875 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 403,031. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $212.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $234.09. The company has a market cap of $8.22 billion, a PE ratio of 31.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.38 and a beta of 0.98. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $198.01 and a one year high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $210.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.99 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.82% and a net margin of 33.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.96 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.17 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.47%.

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.