526,874 Shares in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Purchased by Norges Bank

Norges Bank bought a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 526,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $119,095,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.40% of MarketAxess at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Hawaiian Bank acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,088,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in MarketAxess by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 363,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $82,103,000 after purchasing an additional 5,153 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 8,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,842,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth $539,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at $46,079,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of MKTX opened at $216.35 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.76, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $207.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $238.66. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $186.84 and a twelve month high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. On average, analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. 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 41.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price 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. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.