Aviva PLC Acquires 2,359 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Aviva PLC increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 11.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,359 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC owned 0.06% of MarketAxess worth $5,250,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MKTX. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter worth $119,095,000. Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new position in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at about $71,103,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in MarketAxess by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $452,246,000 after purchasing an additional 236,497 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,079,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in MarketAxess by 14.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,076,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $275,122,000 after purchasing an additional 139,949 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MarketAxess Stock Down 1.5 %

MKTX stock opened at $203.19 on Thursday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $186.84 and a twelve month high of $296.68. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $205.06 and its 200-day moving average is $235.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.66 billion, a PE ratio of 27.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share 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 research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MKTX has been the subject of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley upgraded MarketAxess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, William Blair assumed coverage on MarketAxess in a research report on Friday, April 4th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $252.11.

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.