Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Purchases 69,021 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 471.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 83,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 69,021 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $18,912,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allianz SE bought a new position in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Allstate Corp bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth $244,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 3,416 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $772,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 24,013 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,428,000 after buying an additional 3,271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in MarketAxess by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,770 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,434,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of MKTX opened at $212.94 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $186.84 and a 1 year high of $296.68. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $206.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $237.71.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.43%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 41.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MKTX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. 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. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $255.44.

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.