MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Bought by International Assets Investment Management LLC

International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 28,547.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,178 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,132 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $3,859,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in MarketAxess by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,184,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,423,499,000 after acquiring an additional 25,208 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in MarketAxess by 18.3% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,928,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,537,253,000 after acquiring an additional 608,107 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in MarketAxess by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,071,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $577,691,000 after acquiring an additional 19,225 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in MarketAxess by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,868,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $635,737,000 after acquiring an additional 13,367 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in MarketAxess by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,705,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $364,462,000 after acquiring an additional 33,288 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 2,000 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.26, for a total transaction of $442,520.00. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 70,092 shares in the company, valued at $15,508,555.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MarketAxess Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $202.77 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $217.73 and its 200-day moving average is $237.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.68 billion, a PE ratio of 29.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.98. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $200.01 and a 12-month high of $341.92.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.11. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 21.76% and a net margin of 34.29%. The company had revenue of $197.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $196.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.58 earnings per share. MarketAxess’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 13th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.46%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 43.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on MKTX shares. Bank of America started coverage on MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on MarketAxess from $250.00 to $237.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price objective on MarketAxess from $229.00 to $210.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on MarketAxess from $263.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $252.80.

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.