Van ECK Associates Corp Raises Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 13.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 236,497 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned 5.31% of MarketAxess worth $452,246,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Savant Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 8,277.4% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 119,797 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,079,000 after purchasing an additional 118,367 shares during the period. Stiles Financial Services Inc lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 6,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,522,000 after buying an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter worth $358,000. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in MarketAxess by 218.8% in the 4th quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 9,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,201,000 after buying an additional 6,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 179.5% during the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business’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 owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $192.91 on Thursday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $188.88 and a 12-month high of $296.68. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $222.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $246.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.54, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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, equities analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. 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 40.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company 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.