AlphaQuest LLC Raises Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

AlphaQuest LLC raised its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 130.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,512 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,986 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $794,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MKTX. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 179.5% in the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 495.2% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 13,900.0% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MKTX. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.78.

MarketAxess Stock Up 1.7 %

MarketAxess stock opened at $212.57 on Tuesday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $186.84 and a 52 week high of $296.68. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $209.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $242.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.01 billion, a PE ratio of 29.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 41.82%.

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.