Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Boosts Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 65.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 104,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 41,573 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.29% of MarketAxess worth $17,290,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 200.0% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management bought a new position in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Stance Capital LLC bought a new position in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Argus cut MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Bank of America upgraded MarketAxess from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, June 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $195.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $189.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $134.00 target price (down from $189.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $183.10.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MarketAxess stock opened at $112.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a current ratio of 2.17. The company has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a PE ratio of 13.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $136.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $162.14. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $108.75 and a fifty-two week high of $225.07.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.53% and a return on equity of 22.28%. The company had revenue of $233.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $231.91 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.87 earnings per share. MarketAxess’s revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th were given a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.88%.

MarketAxess 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.