16,300 Shares in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Acquired by Alberta Investment Management Corp

Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 16,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,684,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 0.3% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 15,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,953,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 5,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,287,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted 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 worth $303,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $376,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 179.5% during the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $189.81 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $188.57 and a twelve month high of $296.68. The stock has a market cap of $7.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $217.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $244.93.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share 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%. Analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.82 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a $0.76 dividend. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on MKTX. Barclays decreased 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 report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $254.78.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

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.