iA Global Asset Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,043 MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

iA Global Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 1,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 347.6% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 155.8% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 1,030.8% in the 1st quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 2,428.6% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MKTX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on MarketAxess from $230.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. UBS Group decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $241.00.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MarketAxess stock traded up $11.38 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $232.60. 465,772 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 420,804. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.48, a PEG ratio of 5.93 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $206.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $216.57. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $192.42 and a 12-month high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.07. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.82% and a net margin of 33.83%. The firm had revenue of $210.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $212.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.96 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were given a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 21st. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.47%.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In other news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total value of $99,740.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,034,895.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.