Magnetar Financial LLC Purchases 15,389 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Magnetar Financial LLC increased its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 708.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,389 shares during the quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $3,970,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. lifted its stake 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 valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 495.2% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 13,900.0% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp bought a new position in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new position in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MKTX shares. 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 research note on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered 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 price objective 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. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. One investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $254.78.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of MKTX opened at $217.82 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $8.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.96, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $186.84 and a 1-year high of $296.68. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $207.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $240.62.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.76 dividend. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 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.