Empowered Funds LLC Takes $358,000 Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $358,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $501,907,000 after buying an additional 291,134 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in MarketAxess by 0.6% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,338,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $343,032,000 after purchasing an additional 8,042 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 worth $275,122,000 after purchasing an additional 139,949 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 42.1% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 393,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,911,000 after purchasing an additional 116,607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in MarketAxess by 72.7% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 188,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,268,000 after purchasing an additional 79,300 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MKTX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group cut their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays reduced their price target 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, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. One research 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 MarketBeat, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $254.78.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $189.81 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $188.57 and a 12 month high of $296.68. The company has a market capitalization of $7.16 billion, a PE ratio of 26.11, a PEG ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $217.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $244.93.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. 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 is 40.72%.

About MarketAxess

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.