Congress Asset Management Co. Makes New Investment in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 314,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $71,103,000. Congress Asset Management Co. owned approximately 0.83% of MarketAxess as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $501,907,000 after purchasing an additional 291,134 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $452,246,000 after acquiring an additional 236,497 shares during the period. Castle Hook Partners LP bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 14.9% in the 3rd 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 period. Finally, Savant Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 8,277.4% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 119,797 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,079,000 after purchasing an additional 118,367 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MarketAxess stock opened at $193.49 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $188.88 and a one year high of $296.68. The business’s fifty day moving average is $220.83 and its 200 day moving average is $246.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.29 billion, a PE ratio of 26.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.72%.

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 transaction, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MKTX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective 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. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on 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 target price on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess has an average 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.