MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Purchased by Candriam S.C.A.

Candriam S.C.A. boosted its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 26.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,296 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 899 shares during the quarter. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $971,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 179.5% in the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 495.2% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 13,900.0% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $212.57 on Tuesday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $186.84 and a 52 week high of $296.68. The stock has a market cap of $8.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $209.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $242.22.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results 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 net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MKTX. Barclays cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective 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. 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, UBS Group dropped their price objective 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. One research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $254.78.

About MarketAxess

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.