Stevens Capital Management LP Invests $368,000 in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Stevens Capital Management LP purchased a new position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $368,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter valued at $71,103,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in MarketAxess by 17.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $501,907,000 after purchasing an additional 291,134 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in MarketAxess by 13.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 236,497 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter valued at $46,079,000. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the third quarter valued at $42,967,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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 stock’s 50-day moving average price is $207.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $240.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on MKTX. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess currently has a consensus 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.