Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 90,805 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,434,946 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 90,805 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of MarketAxess worth $1,002,475,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stevens Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth $368,000. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 192.3% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 5,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,287,000 after purchasing an additional 3,746 shares during the period. Guardian Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,987,000. Fox Run Management L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 46.2% in the 4th quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 3,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $870,000 after purchasing an additional 1,215 shares during the period. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,119,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $216.75 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $207.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $239.19. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $186.84 and a fifty-two week high of $296.68.

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

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were given a $0.76 dividend. 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 yield of 1.40%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on MKTX shares. UBS Group decreased their price target 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. Barclays lowered their target price 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 reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess has an average 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.