Congress Asset Management Co. Purchases Shares of 314,561 MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 314,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $71,103,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings 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 valued at $452,246,000 after purchasing an additional 236,497 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $501,907,000 after buying an additional 291,134 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,338,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $343,032,000 after buying an additional 8,042 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 14.9% during the third 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. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 42.1% in the third quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 393,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $100,911,000 after acquiring an additional 116,607 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $254.78.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $193.49 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.61, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s 50 day moving average is $220.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $246.02. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $188.88 and a 1-year high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MarketAxess news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total transaction of $72,171.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by 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.