iA Global Asset Management Inc. Makes New Investment in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

iA Global Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 5,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,153,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. First Hawaiian Bank bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at $1,088,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in MarketAxess by 1.4% in 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 last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,966,000. Keybank National Association OH grew its stake in MarketAxess by 18.2% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at $539,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $216.87 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s fifty day moving average is $207.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $240.44. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $186.84 and a 52-week high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 41.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MKTX. UBS Group lowered their target price 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. Piper Sandler lowered their target price 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. Barclays lowered 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 note on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, 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 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 assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.