Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ Invests $2.73 Million in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 12,095 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,734,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth $119,095,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,300,536 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $520,013,000 after purchasing an additional 341,493 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth $71,103,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $452,246,000 after purchasing an additional 236,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 11.4% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 236,118 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on MKTX shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $232.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. William Blair began coverage on MarketAxess in a report on Friday, April 4th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Bank of America boosted their price target on MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $241.78.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX traded down $4.27 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $214.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 635,318 shares, compared to its average volume of 501,031. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.05 billion, a PE ratio of 29.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $218.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $220.56. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $186.84 and a 52 week high of $296.68.

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

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.