AGF Management Ltd. Makes New Investment in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

AGF Management Ltd. purchased a new position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 9,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,214,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $303,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in MarketAxess by 4.0% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $376,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its stake 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 increased its stake in MarketAxess by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $673,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.78.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $212.38 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $208.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $241.43. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $186.84 and a 52-week high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 41.82%.

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.