Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Buys 2,500 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 20.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,997 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc's holdings in MarketAxess were worth $3,390,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter valued at about $119,095,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,300,536 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $520,013,000 after acquiring an additional 341,493 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at about $71,103,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in MarketAxess by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $452,246,000 after acquiring an additional 236,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in MarketAxess by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,298,409 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $519,533,000 after acquiring an additional 236,118 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MKTX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays increased their price objective on MarketAxess from $232.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Friday, April 4th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $263.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $213.00 to $202.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $241.78.

MarketAxess Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of MKTX stock traded up $3.54 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $222.96. 53,005 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 497,305. The firm has a market cap of $8.36 billion, a PE ratio of 30.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.89. The company's 50 day moving average is $217.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $224.48. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $186.84 and a 1 year high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. The business had revenue of $208.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.81 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.92 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.87%.

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.