Cerity Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 29.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,948 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,792 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,946,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MKTX. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its stake in MarketAxess by 179.5% during the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Allianz SE acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 495.2% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 13,900.0% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 185.7% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on MKTX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered 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 note on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of MarketAxess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, William Blair initiated coverage on MarketAxess in a report on Friday, April 4th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $252.11.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MarketAxess stock opened at $222.73 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $8.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $206.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $234.77. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $186.84 and a 1-year high of $296.68.

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

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.82%.

MarketAxess Company 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.