MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Purchased by Schroder Investment Management Group

Schroder Investment Management Group raised its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 92,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,057 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $20,758,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. First Hawaiian Bank acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,088,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 363,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $82,103,000 after acquiring an additional 5,153 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 8,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,842,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter worth approximately $539,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,079,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $210.83 on Thursday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $186.84 and a one year high of $296.68. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $207.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $238.18. The firm has a market cap of $7.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders 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 a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 41.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MKTX shares. Barclays reduced their price objective 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. 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. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.