Colonial Trust Co SC Has $95,000 Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 20.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $95,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its position in MarketAxess by 179.5% during the fourth 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 bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 495.2% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in MarketAxess by 13,900.0% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Huntington National Bank grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 185.7% during the fourth 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. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on MKTX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $263.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $241.78.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $230.97 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $216.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $228.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.77, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.89. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $186.84 and a 52 week high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $208.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.81 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. MarketAxess’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.92 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.87%.

MarketAxess 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.