Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Sells 1,093 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. decreased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,731 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,093 shares during the quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $4,008,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. First Hawaiian Bank bought a new stake in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at $1,088,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 363,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $82,103,000 after purchasing an additional 5,153 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter worth $1,966,000. Keybank National Association OH increased 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 worth $1,842,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256 shares during the period. Finally, Norden Group LLC bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth $539,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $217.82 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $207.90 and a 200 day moving average of $240.62. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $186.84 and a 52-week high of $296.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.21 billion, a PE ratio of 29.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $254.78.

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.