Two Sigma Advisers LP Buys 44,700 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 23.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 233,100 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 44,700 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP owned 0.62% of MarketAxess worth $52,690,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 16.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 140,760 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $36,063,000 after buying an additional 19,962 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 47.6% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 1,503 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $340,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,135 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $709,000 after buying an additional 724 shares during the period. Access Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in MarketAxess by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Access Financial Services Inc. now owns 4,597 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,039,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its position in MarketAxess by 139.7% during the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,560 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,257,000 after purchasing an additional 3,240 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on MKTX. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $213.00 to $202.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on MarketAxess from $263.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen raised MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America increased their price target on MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $241.78.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of MKTX traded up $1.44 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $217.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 317,874 shares, compared to its average volume of 502,917. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $186.84 and a 1-year high of $296.68. The stock has a market cap of $8.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.97, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $217.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $223.17.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $208.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $211.81 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. The business's revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.92 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. 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.