Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Acquires 643 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 23.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 643 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $725,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,434,946 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,002,475,000 after purchasing an additional 90,805 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in MarketAxess by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,300,536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $520,013,000 after buying an additional 341,493 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in MarketAxess by 11.4% during 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 during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,369,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $309,472,000 after acquiring an additional 30,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,113,308 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $251,106,000 after acquiring an additional 36,431 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MKTX. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on MarketAxess from $263.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $241.78.

MarketAxess Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $221.68 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.31 billion, a PE ratio of 38.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $220.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $216.21. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $186.84 and a twelve month high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $208.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.81 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.57% and a return on equity of 19.93%. The firm’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.92 earnings per share. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st were issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.87%.

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.