MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Purchased by Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 37.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,711 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,282 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.'s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,076,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Park Place Capital Corp acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its position in MarketAxess by 555.6% during the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 236 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $254.78.

MarketAxess Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of MarketAxess stock traded up $2.07 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $193.49. 642,676 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 493,569. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $188.88 and a 52-week high of $296.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a fifty day moving average of $220.83 and a 200-day moving average of $246.02.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from MarketAxess's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio is currently 40.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company's stock.

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.