CIBC Asset Management Inc Boosts Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,211,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 179.5% during the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 230.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays cut 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.78.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MarketAxess stock opened at $193.96 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $216.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $244.80. The company has a market capitalization of $7.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.68, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.02. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $186.84 and a fifty-two week high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. On average, analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MarketAxess news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.