MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Bought by Flossbach Von Storch SE

Flossbach Von Storch SE boosted its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 44.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,290 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,990 shares during the quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE's holdings in MarketAxess were worth $3,682,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at about $71,103,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in MarketAxess by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $501,907,000 after acquiring an additional 291,134 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $452,246,000 after acquiring an additional 236,497 shares during the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,967,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,076,877 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $275,122,000 after purchasing an additional 139,949 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on MKTX. Piper Sandler cut their price target on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $254.78.

MarketAxess Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of MKTX traded up $4.15 during trading on Friday, reaching $193.96. 799,402 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 551,009. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $216.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $244.73. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $186.84 and a twelve month high of $296.68. The stock has a market cap of $7.31 billion, a PE ratio of 26.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 1.02.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share 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 predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.82 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is a positive change from MarketAxess's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio is presently 41.82%.

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.