Norges Bank Purchases New Shares in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 503,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $91,324,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Amica Mutual Insurance Co. raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 20.6% during the 4th quarter. Amica Mutual Insurance Co. now owns 2,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $426,000 after buying an additional 401 shares during the period. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at $106,000. Rothschild Investment LLC raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 51.0% during the 4th quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 2,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $475,000 after buying an additional 886 shares during the period. Poinciana Advisors Group LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at $219,000. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at $18,868,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MKTX stock opened at $116.93 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.17, a current ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $152.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $167.09. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.55 and a twelve month high of $228.16. The firm has a market cap of $4.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.82, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.86.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 35.53%.The business had revenue of $233.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $231.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.87 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.88%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on MKTX shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. UBS Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 11th. Barclays decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $189.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings lowered MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Argus lowered MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $190.88.

MarketAxess Company Profile

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates a leading global electronic trading platform specializing in fixed-income securities and related products. The company’s network enables institutional investors and broker-dealers to trade corporate bonds, municipal securities, emerging markets debt, U.S. Treasuries and credit default swaps in an automated, multi-dealer environment. MarketAxess also offers portfolio trading, data analytics, best-execution tools and post-trade services to streamline workflows and enhance price discovery across its marketplace.

In addition to core voice-like trading protocols, MarketAxess provides Open Trading®, an anonymous, all-to-all trading protocol designed to improve liquidity and transaction efficiency.