APG Asset Management N.V. Invests $4.43 Million in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

APG Asset Management N.V. acquired a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 20,300 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,431,000. APG Asset Management N.V. owned about 0.05% of MarketAxess as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $119,095,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,300,536 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $520,013,000 after buying an additional 341,493 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at $71,103,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in MarketAxess by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $452,246,000 after acquiring an additional 236,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,079,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company's stock.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX traded up $1.56 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $223.98. 496,973 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 486,400. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $186.84 and a twelve month high of $296.68. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $205.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $234.85. The stock has a market cap of $8.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.81, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12.

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MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. On average, equities research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is an increase from MarketAxess's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MKTX. Morgan Stanley raised shares of MarketAxess from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Friday, April 4th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $252.11.

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.