2Xideas AG Increases Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

2Xideas AG boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 28.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,974 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,705 shares during the quarter. MarketAxess accounts for about 1.5% of 2Xideas AG’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. 2Xideas AG’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $11,070,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Hawaiian Bank acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,088,000. Keybank National Association OH grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 8,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,842,000 after buying an additional 1,256 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in MarketAxess by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 363,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $82,103,000 after buying an additional 5,153 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at about $539,000. Finally, Taika Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth $2,689,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $212.94 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $206.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $237.56. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $186.84 and a fifty-two week high of $296.68. The firm has a market cap of $8.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.29, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12.

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

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MKTX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays dropped 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment 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.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.