Forte Capital LLC ADV Lowers Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Forte Capital LLC ADV decreased its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 41.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,996 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,427 shares during the period. Forte Capital LLC ADV’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $451,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter valued at about $71,103,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 17.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $501,907,000 after buying an additional 291,134 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 13.4% during 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 buying an additional 236,497 shares during the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter valued at about $42,967,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 14.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,076,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $275,122,000 after buying an additional 139,949 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MKTX stock opened at $193.96 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $186.84 and a fifty-two week high of $296.68. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $216.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $244.73. The company has a market capitalization of $7.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 1.02.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. Sell-side analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.82 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a $0.76 dividend. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 41.82%.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MKTX. Barclays reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group reduced their price target on 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 boosted their price target on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.78.

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.