MarketAxess Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:MKTX)

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders acquired 20,050 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 16,069% compared to the typical daily volume of 124 call options.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX traded up $2.66 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $141.11. 787,812 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 537,583. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $166.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $170.72. MarketAxess has a 12 month low of $137.27 and a 12 month high of $228.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 2.17, a current ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $233.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $231.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.87 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that MarketAxess will post 8.08 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.88%.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MKTX. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 169.0% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,558,097 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $463,655,000 after purchasing an additional 1,607,009 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 42.4% during the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,175,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $575,546,000 after purchasing an additional 944,830 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 5,086.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 951,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $172,373,000 after purchasing an additional 932,687 shares during the last quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 76.6% during the 4th quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 1,609,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $291,691,000 after purchasing an additional 697,972 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at about $91,324,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings cut MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $195.00 price target on the stock. Barclays dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $189.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $190.88.

About MarketAxess

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.