Norden Group LLC Makes New Investment in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $539,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its position in MarketAxess by 179.5% during the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in MarketAxess by 495.2% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. Park Place Capital Corp acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.6 %

MarketAxess stock opened at $194.04 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.69, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $212.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $243.38. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $186.84 and a 52 week high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. As a group, equities analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 41.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MKTX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group cut their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. 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. Barclays cut their price target on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $254.78.

About MarketAxess

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.