Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Has $612,000 Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 173.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,707 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,716 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC's holdings in MarketAxess were worth $612,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter valued at $2,734,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth about $433,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth about $6,592,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,424 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $322,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the period. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 25,721 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,813,000 after acquiring an additional 984 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MKTX shares. Wall Street Zen lowered MarketAxess from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on MarketAxess from $263.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. William Blair started coverage on MarketAxess in a report on Friday, April 4th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $241.78.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MKTX traded down $1.64 during trading on Friday, reaching $225.25. The company had a trading volume of 296,732 shares, compared to its average volume of 502,175. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $219.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $218.37. The company has a market cap of $8.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.98, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.84. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $186.84 and a 12-month high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. The company had revenue of $208.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $211.81 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.92 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.