Groupama Asset Managment Makes New $586,000 Investment in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,603 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $586,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 3.1% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 6,607 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,693,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,804 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $718,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter worth about $614,000. Centiva Capital LP acquired a new position in MarketAxess in the third quarter worth about $332,000. Finally, Investment Management Corp of Ontario bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at about $308,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on MKTX shares. UBS Group reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. William Blair initiated coverage on MarketAxess in a research note on Friday, April 4th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Bank of America boosted their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of MarketAxess from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $252.11.

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MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX traded down $3.08 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $203.19. The stock had a trading volume of 1,821,949 shares, compared to its average volume of 479,997. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $205.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $235.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.95, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $186.84 and a 1-year high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last announced 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 return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were given a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from MarketAxess's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.