D.A. Davidson & CO. Acquires 6,625 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 65.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,625 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $3,781,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MKTX. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 15,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,953,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 5,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,287,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $303,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $376,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its holdings 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 valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MKTX opened at $189.81 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $188.57 and a 52-week high of $296.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.16 billion, a PE ratio of 26.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $217.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $244.93.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.82 EPS for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 40.72%.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In related news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MKTX shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.