MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX Shares Sold by BNP Paribas Financial Markets

BNP Paribas Financial Markets cut its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 22.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 375,735 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 110,371 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned 1.01% of MarketAxess worth $68,102,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 66.6% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,230,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $388,681,000 after buying an additional 891,303 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 485.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 758,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $167,195,000 after buying an additional 628,954 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth $91,324,000. North Reef Capital Management LP boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 117.0% during the third quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 911,358 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $158,804,000 after buying an additional 491,358 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 67.1% during the third quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 692,216 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $127,257,000 after buying an additional 277,846 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MKTX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods started coverage on MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $195.00 price target on the stock. Barclays decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $189.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen raised MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Argus lowered MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $190.88.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX stock opened at $129.29 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a market capitalization of $4.59 billion, a PE ratio of 15.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.86. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $128.94 and a 12-month high of $228.16. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $156.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $168.51.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 35.53%.The company had revenue of $233.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.87 EPS. MarketAxess’s revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 36.88%.

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.