Assetmark Inc. Acquires 374 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 98.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 754 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $170,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $303,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 1,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $249,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $673,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MKTX opened at $212.01 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $186.84 and a one year high of $296.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.16, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a fifty day moving average of $208.68 and a 200 day moving average of $241.63.

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

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.43%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 41.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. One equities 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $254.78.

MarketAxess Company 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.