Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 38.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 15,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,258 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $3,491,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. First Hawaiian Bank purchased a new stake in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,088,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,966,000. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $982,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 22.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 55,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,265,000 after acquiring an additional 10,361 shares during the period. Finally, abrdn plc boosted its position in MarketAxess by 111.4% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,455,000 after purchasing an additional 3,407 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MKTX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays lowered 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 dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $254.78.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.66% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $192.79 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.52, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $212.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $243.34. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $186.84 and a 1 year high of $296.68.

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

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.82%.

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.