Metis Global Partners LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,270 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $513,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 179.5% in the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. grew its position in MarketAxess by 230.4% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MKTX. 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. Barclays decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $254.78.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In related news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $195.85 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.38 billion, a PE ratio of 26.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $211.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $242.84. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $186.84 and a 12 month high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 41.82%.

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.