First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Purchases 2,947 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 13.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 24,671 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,947 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $5,338,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $303,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 49.1% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. State of Wyoming grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 483 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $109,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its position in MarketAxess by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 1,701 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $384,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 1,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $249,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Down 1.7%

MKTX opened at $222.22 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $8.33 billion, a PE ratio of 30.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.84. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $186.84 and a twelve month high of $296.68. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $218.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $219.35.

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 return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. The business’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.92 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st were paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on MarketAxess from $263.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Friday, April 4th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $241.78.

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.