Smartleaf Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 495.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $28,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 22.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 55,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,265,000 after purchasing an additional 10,361 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 160.3% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter valued at approximately $266,000. Cumberland Partners Ltd bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter valued at approximately $512,000. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 25.6% during the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 15,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,926,000 after acquiring an additional 3,121 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MKTX shares. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays reduced 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 report on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $254.78.

MarketAxess Trading Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $206.95 on Thursday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $186.84 and a 12 month high of $296.68. The company has a market cap of $7.80 billion, a PE ratio of 28.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $209.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $241.88.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its 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 net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. Research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.