Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases 88 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,770 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 88 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $2,434,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $303,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in MarketAxess by 4.0% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $376,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 1,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $249,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 179.5% during the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $673,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $210.83 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $7.95 billion, a PE ratio of 29.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $207.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $238.18. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $186.84 and a 52-week high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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%. On average, analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 1.44%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 41.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays decreased their target price 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. UBS Group dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research 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, 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 note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $255.44.

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.