MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Holdings Boosted by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 383 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,140,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $71,103,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 17.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $501,907,000 after purchasing an additional 291,134 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $452,246,000 after purchasing an additional 236,497 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,079,000. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at approximately $42,967,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MarketAxess stock opened at $212.38 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $186.84 and a 1 year high of $296.68. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $208.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $241.30.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (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 analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on MKTX. UBS Group lowered 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered 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 lowered 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. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $254.78.

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.