Norden Group LLC Invests $539,000 in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $539,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MKTX. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter worth $71,103,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $501,907,000 after purchasing an additional 291,134 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $452,246,000 after acquiring an additional 236,497 shares during the period. Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,967,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,076,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $275,122,000 after acquiring an additional 139,949 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX stock opened at $194.04 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s 50-day moving average is $212.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $243.38. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $186.84 and a 1 year high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share 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%. On average, analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.82%.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.