Flossbach Von Storch SE Grows Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Flossbach Von Storch SE lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 44.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,990 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch SE’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $3,682,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 10,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,406,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth about $2,253,000. Cumberland Partners Ltd increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 450.0% during the fourth quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 11,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,486,000 after purchasing an additional 9,000 shares in the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth about $3,684,000. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in MarketAxess by 65.6% during the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 16,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,781,000 after acquiring an additional 6,625 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MKTX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.78.

Insider Transactions 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 shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of MKTX opened at $191.54 on Thursday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $188.88 and a fifty-two week high of $296.68. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $218.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $245.32. The company has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.35, a PEG ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.02.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. Research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.82 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 40.72%.

MarketAxess 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.