MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Purchased by Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 38.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,443 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,258 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $3,491,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at about $12,200,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in MarketAxess by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 440,934 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $99,669,000 after acquiring an additional 11,291 shares during the last quarter. South Dakota Investment Council raised its stake in MarketAxess by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 550 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $124,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its stake in MarketAxess by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 11,220 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,536,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch SE raised its stake in MarketAxess by 44.2% during the 4th quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 16,290 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,682,000 after acquiring an additional 4,990 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

MKTX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Barclays reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. 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. UBS Group dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $254.78.

MarketAxess Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of MKTX traded down $2.04 on Wednesday, reaching $195.85. The stock had a trading volume of 1,185,573 shares, compared to its average volume of 681,335. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.38 billion, a PE ratio of 26.94, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $211.19 and a 200 day moving average of $242.84. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $186.84 and a twelve month high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last released 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. This is a boost from MarketAxess's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio is currently 41.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MarketAxess news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the 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 sale, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 2.66% of the company's stock.

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.