California Public Employees Retirement System Boosts Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 15.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 62,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,164 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.17% of MarketAxess worth $14,151,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 5.6% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,804 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $718,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Centiva Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter worth $332,000. Investment Management Corp of Ontario bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter worth $308,000. Parallax Volatility Advisers L.P. bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at $481,000. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 327.8% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 646 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $166,000 after purchasing an additional 495 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MarketAxess Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $212.94 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $186.84 and a 12-month high of $296.68. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $206.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $237.56.

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

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.43%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 41.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MKTX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group lowered their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $255.44.

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.