MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Bought by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 1,422.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 62,933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 58,800 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.17% of MarketAxess worth $14,225,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MKTX. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at $119,095,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,300,536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $520,013,000 after purchasing an additional 341,493 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth about $71,103,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew 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 worth $452,246,000 after buying an additional 236,497 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,298,409 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $519,533,000 after buying an additional 236,118 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $230.97 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $186.84 and a 1-year high of $296.68. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $216.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $228.05. The firm has a market cap of $8.59 billion, a PE ratio of 31.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.89.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $208.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.81 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. The business’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.92 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $213.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Bank of America upped their target price on MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on MarketAxess from $263.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $241.78.

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.