MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Sold by Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich trimmed its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 28.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 90 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $56,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its position in MarketAxess by 179.5% during the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in MarketAxess by 495.2% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in MarketAxess by 13,900.0% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX opened at $209.96 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.88, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $209.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $242.06. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $186.84 and a 1 year high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company 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 an increase 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 dividend yield of 1.45%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on MKTX shares. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered 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, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.78.

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.