US Bancorp DE Raises Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 23.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 11,115 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,142 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $2,512,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $71,103,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in MarketAxess by 17.5% in 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 boosted its position in MarketAxess by 13.4% in 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 purchased a new stake in MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at approximately $42,967,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in MarketAxess by 14.9% in 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 Price Performance

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $206.15 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.36, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $210.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $242.51. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $186.84 and a 1-year high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share 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%. Analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.47%. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.82%.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the company’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 transaction of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MKTX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped 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. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on 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 dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. One equities research 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 stock 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.