EntryPoint Capital LLC Takes Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 1,236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $279,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 179.5% in the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted 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 worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Park Place Capital Corp bought a new stake in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MKTX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. One research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $254.78.

MarketAxess Stock Up 1.9 %

MarketAxess stock opened at $219.01 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $207.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $239.48. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $186.84 and a twelve month high of $296.68. The company has a market capitalization of $8.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05.

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

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.82%.

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.