Stevens Capital Management LP Buys Shares of 1,630 MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Stevens Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 1,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $368,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. First Hawaiian Bank purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,088,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 1.4% during 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 buying an additional 5,153 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 8,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,842,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $539,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,079,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $216.87 on Monday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $186.84 and a 12-month high of $296.68. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $207.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $240.43. The company has a market cap of $8.17 billion, a PE ratio of 29.83, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05.

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

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MKTX. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $254.78.

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.