Geode Capital Management LLC Grows Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,113,308 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,431 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.95% of MarketAxess worth $251,106,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on MKTX. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $255.44.

MarketAxess Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $212.94 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.29, a PEG 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $206.64 and its 200 day moving average is $237.56.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its 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 return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.43%. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.82%.

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.