2,853 Shares in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Bought by Wealthfront Advisers LLC

Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,853 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $631,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 13.4% during the 4th 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 last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $501,907,000 after acquiring an additional 291,134 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,338,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $343,032,000 after acquiring an additional 8,042 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 14.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,076,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $275,122,000 after acquiring an additional 139,949 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 440,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $99,669,000 after acquiring an additional 11,291 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $212.38 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $8.01 billion, a PE ratio of 29.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $208.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $241.33. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $186.84 and a one year high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. Equities research analysts predict 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 dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MKTX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays reduced 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 report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced 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 report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.