Optimize Financial Inc purchased a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,248 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $282,000.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its stake in MarketAxess by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,340 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $303,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in MarketAxess by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,469 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $376,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP increased its position in MarketAxess by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 1,102 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 179.5% in the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,979 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $673,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.
MarketAxess Stock Up 0.7 %
MarketAxess stock traded up $1.56 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $223.98. 496,973 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 486,400. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $205.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $234.85. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $186.84 and a 12 month high of $296.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.81, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12.
MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. As a group, analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is a positive change 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 dividend yield of 1.36%. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio is presently 41.82%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MKTX. UBS Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Bank of America boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of MarketAxess from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $252.11.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on MarketAxess
MarketAxess Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
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