Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd Decreases Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd trimmed its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 8.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $249,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. First Hawaiian Bank bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter worth about $1,088,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in MarketAxess by 1.4% during 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 buying an additional 5,153 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,966,000. Keybank National Association OH increased its stake in MarketAxess by 18.2% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 8,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,842,000 after buying an additional 1,256 shares during the period. Finally, Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at about $539,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $212.38 on Monday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $186.84 and a 1 year high of $296.68. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $208.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $241.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. Equities research analysts anticipate 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 represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 41.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MKTX shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.