Invesco Ltd. Increases Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 12.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,044,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 115,186 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned 2.77% of MarketAxess worth $236,067,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MKTX. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter worth about $119,095,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,300,536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $520,013,000 after purchasing an additional 341,493 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $71,103,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $452,246,000 after purchasing an additional 236,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,079,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MKTX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. William Blair initiated coverage on MarketAxess in a research note on Friday, April 4th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $220.00 to $213.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $252.11.

MarketAxess Trading Up 5.5 %

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $221.81 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $204.99 and its 200 day moving average is $235.29. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $186.84 and a 12-month high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.82%.

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.