Nuveen LLC Invests $26.79 Million in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 123,808 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $26,786,000. Nuveen LLC owned 0.33% of MarketAxess as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. Mariner LLC grew its stake in MarketAxess by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 2,941 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $665,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth about $289,000. Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its stake in MarketAxess by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 1,701 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $384,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in MarketAxess by 43.2% during the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 49,689 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $11,232,000 after buying an additional 15,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in MarketAxess by 474.8% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 15,388 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,478,000 after buying an additional 12,711 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX traded up $1.9940 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $188.8440. The stock had a trading volume of 119,800 shares, compared to its average volume of 588,402. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $209.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $211.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.84. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $182.99 and a 1-year high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $219.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $218.05 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.62% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.72 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.18%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $204.00 price objective (up from $202.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $283.00 to $274.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $237.00 to $200.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $229.70.

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.