Fmr LLC Boosts Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

FMR LLC boosted its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 17.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,300,536 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 341,493 shares during the period. FMR LLC owned 6.10% of MarketAxess worth $520,013,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth about $119,095,000. Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth $71,103,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings 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 valued at $452,246,000 after buying an additional 236,497 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter valued at about $46,079,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 14.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,076,877 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $275,122,000 after acquiring an additional 139,949 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Trading Up 1.1 %

MKTX traded up $2.38 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $224.80. 188,563 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 484,855. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $186.84 and a 12-month high of $296.68. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $205.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $234.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.94, 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 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is a boost from MarketAxess's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio is currently 41.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MKTX. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. 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 report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. 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, April 8th. Finally, William Blair started coverage on MarketAxess in a report on Friday, April 4th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $252.11.

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.