Polen Capital Management LLC Sells 4,312 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Polen Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 49.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,312 shares during the period. Polen Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $985,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 179.5% in the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in MarketAxess by 495.2% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 13,900.0% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $212.38 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $208.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $241.33. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $186.84 and a 12 month high of $296.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.21, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05.

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

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.43%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MKTX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective 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. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced 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 note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price 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. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $254.78.

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.