Walleye Capital LLC Raises Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Walleye Capital LLC increased its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 2,755.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 102,427 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 98,840 shares during the period. Walleye Capital LLC owned approximately 0.27% of MarketAxess worth $23,153,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted 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 valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Allianz SE acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 495.2% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 13,900.0% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 185.7% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 160 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX stock traded up $2.43 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $225.16. 351,905 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 486,004. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $186.84 and a one year high of $296.68. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $206.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $234.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS 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, analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors 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. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio is presently 41.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MKTX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on 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 cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. William Blair started coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Friday, April 4th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $252.11.

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.