MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Bought by Versor Investments LP

Versor Investments LP grew its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $249,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. First Hawaiian Bank purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth $1,088,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter worth about $1,966,000. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth about $982,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 22.9% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 111.4% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,455,000 after acquiring an additional 3,407 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the general counsel now 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MKTX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target 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. Barclays reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target 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 reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $254.78.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $194.04 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $212.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $243.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.02. 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 data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

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

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.