Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Lowers Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ trimmed its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,592,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter worth $71,103,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 17.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $501,907,000 after purchasing an additional 291,134 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $452,246,000 after buying an additional 236,497 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,079,000. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,967,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Up 2.3 %

MarketAxess stock opened at $217.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $208.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $241.12. The company has a market capitalization of $8.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $186.84 and a 52 week high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. Research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MKTX. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, UBS Group lowered 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.78.

MarketAxess 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.