MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX Shares Purchased by Exchange Traded Concepts LLC

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 163.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,798 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $2,280,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 298.2% in the fourth quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 13,624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,469,000 after buying an additional 10,203 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 387.0% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 63,228 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,460,000 after acquiring an additional 50,244 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at about $431,000. Goodman Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Goodman Financial Corp now owns 76,294 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,828,000 after purchasing an additional 3,924 shares in the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 1,393.5% in the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 687 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $164.98 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.77, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $175.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.56. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $156.17 and a 12 month high of $232.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.80 and a quick ratio of 2.80.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.04). MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.88% and a net margin of 29.14%.The firm had revenue of $209.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $214.06 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.73 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MKTX shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. UBS Group reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Argus lowered shares of MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $200.40.

MarketAxess Company Profile

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates a leading global electronic trading platform specializing in fixed-income securities and related products. The company’s network enables institutional investors and broker-dealers to trade corporate bonds, municipal securities, emerging markets debt, U.S. Treasuries and credit default swaps in an automated, multi-dealer environment. MarketAxess also offers portfolio trading, data analytics, best-execution tools and post-trade services to streamline workflows and enhance price discovery across its marketplace.

In addition to core voice-like trading protocols, MarketAxess provides Open Trading®, an anonymous, all-to-all trading protocol designed to improve liquidity and transaction efficiency.