Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Has $822,000 Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $822,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Park Place Capital Corp acquired a new position in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at $54,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its position in MarketAxess by 555.6% in the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MarketAxess news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total value of $2,676,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 562,029 shares in the company, valued at $150,438,302.43. This represents a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,997,212.14. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $195.27 on Wednesday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $191.91 and a 1-year high of $296.68. The business has a 50-day moving average of $223.92 and a 200 day moving average of $246.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.36 billion, a PE ratio of 26.86, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (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%. Analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.05 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.72%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MKTX has been the subject of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler cut 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, UBS Group dropped 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.