MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Bought by 2Xideas AG

2Xideas AG lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 28.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,974 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,705 shares during the quarter. MarketAxess comprises about 1.5% of 2Xideas AG's investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. 2Xideas AG owned about 0.13% of MarketAxess worth $11,070,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MKTX. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. lifted its position in MarketAxess by 179.5% during the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Allianz SE acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 495.2% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 13,900.0% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Huntington National Bank increased its position in MarketAxess by 185.7% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 160 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MKTX. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $220.00 to $213.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of MarketAxess from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $252.11.

MarketAxess Stock Up 4.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX traded up $10.21 during trading on Friday, reaching $220.53. 546,721 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 482,217. The company has a market capitalization of $8.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12. The business's 50-day moving average price is $204.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $235.51. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $186.84 and a twelve month high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from MarketAxess's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.82%.

MarketAxess Company 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.