Polen Capital Management LLC Buys New Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Polen Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 4,461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,306,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Owls Nest Partners IA LLC acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,073,000. First Financial Bankshares Inc bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter worth $1,779,000. Caxton Associates LP boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 2,176.2% during the fourth quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 30,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,786,000 after buying an additional 28,682 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 46.5% during the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 512,029 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $149,948,000 after buying an additional 162,544 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its position in MarketAxess by 7,385.0% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 159,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,733,000 after acquiring an additional 157,448 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MKTX. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $236.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $250.00 to $237.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group cut 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, Bank of America initiated coverage on MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $249.73.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX traded up $0.91 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $200.22. The stock had a trading volume of 291,671 shares, compared to its average volume of 431,464. The company has a market capitalization of $7.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.40, a P/E/G ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $206.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $231.31. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $192.54 and a 52 week high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $210.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $212.99 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.82% and a net margin of 33.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.96 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.48%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.47%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total value of $99,740.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,034,895.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

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.