Walleye Capital LLC Boosts Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Walleye Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 2,755.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 102,427 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 98,840 shares during the period. Walleye Capital LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $23,153,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter worth $119,095,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,300,536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $520,013,000 after purchasing an additional 341,493 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth about $71,103,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $452,246,000 after buying an additional 236,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at about $46,079,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Up 5.5 %

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $221.81 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $8.36 billion, a PE ratio of 30.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12. The business’s 50 day moving average is $204.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $235.15. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $186.84 and a 52 week high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 41.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on MKTX. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $220.00 to $213.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of MarketAxess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $252.11.

MarketAxess 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.