Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Trims Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC cut its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 74.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,613 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 39,977 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $2,467,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 200.0% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Stance Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at $43,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MarketAxess stock opened at $116.51 on Wednesday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $113.29 and a 52 week high of $228.16. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $150.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $166.29. The company has a quick ratio of 2.17, a current ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market cap of $4.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.77, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.86.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 EPS 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 business had revenue of $233.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $231.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.87 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th were given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 20th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is presently 36.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MKTX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $189.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 11th. UBS Group reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Argus cut MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Weiss Ratings cut MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods started coverage on MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $195.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $190.88.

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.