Primecap Management Co. CA Acquires 30,180 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,369,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 30,180 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $309,472,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 1,494 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $338,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 2,176.6% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 21,446 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,848,000 after acquiring an additional 20,504 shares during the period. Globeflex Capital L P bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth about $743,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 421.3% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 22,612 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,111,000 after acquiring an additional 18,274 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $272,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $217.33 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $208.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $241.12. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $186.84 and a 1 year high of $296.68. The company has a market cap of $8.19 billion, a PE ratio of 29.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05.

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

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $254.78.

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.