MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Stake Raised by Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 18.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 66,569 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,546 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $15,047,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 495.2% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 13,900.0% during the fourth 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. Park Place Capital Corp acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on MKTX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group lowered 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. Barclays decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 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. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $254.78.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $216.75 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $207.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $239.19. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $186.84 and a 52-week high of $296.68.

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 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, equities research analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.82%.

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.