Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Buys 1,282 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 37.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,711 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,282 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,076,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. FMR LLC increased its position in MarketAxess by 17.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $501,907,000 after acquiring an additional 291,134 shares during the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,076,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $275,122,000 after purchasing an additional 139,949 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,229,000. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 42.1% in the third quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 393,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,911,000 after buying an additional 116,607 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 562,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,438,302.43. The trade was a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MarketAxess stock opened at $195.27 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $223.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $246.83. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $191.91 and a 1 year high of $296.68. The stock has a market cap of $7.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.86, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 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, equities analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.05 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MKTX has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased 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. UBS Group lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price 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. One equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.