Ieq Capital LLC Acquires Shares of 9,967 MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 9,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,253,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 15,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,953,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 1.0% in the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 5,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,287,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its stake in MarketAxess by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 4.0% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 179.5% in the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MarketAxess Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $193.96 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $7.31 billion, a PE ratio of 26.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s fifty day moving average is $216.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $244.91. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $186.84 and a fifty-two week high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 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 year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is presently 41.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $254.78.

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.