Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Acquires 130 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $822,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 76,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,229,000 after buying an additional 1,114 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 37.4% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,711 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,076,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 75.1% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $106,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 111.4% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,455,000 after purchasing an additional 3,407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $235,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 562,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,438,302.43. This represents a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on MKTX. Barclays decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.78.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $195.27 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $223.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $246.83. The stock has a market cap of $7.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.86, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $191.91 and a 52-week high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly 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%. Analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. 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 1.56%. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.72%.

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.