MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX Shares Sold by Squarepoint Ops LLC

Squarepoint Ops LLC reduced its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 74.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 18,367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 53,771 shares during the quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $4,102,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. State of Wyoming lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 4,361.5% in the 2nd quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $130,000 after buying an additional 567 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the second quarter worth about $703,000. Rexford Capital Inc. purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the second quarter valued at approximately $137,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in MarketAxess in the second quarter valued at approximately $157,000. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its position in MarketAxess by 46.2% in the 2nd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 16,110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,599,000 after purchasing an additional 5,089 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.1%

MKTX opened at $179.20 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $168.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $189.43. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.17 and a 52-week high of $236.82. The company has a market cap of $6.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.48, a PEG ratio of 8.13 and a beta of 1.00.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $208.82 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.59 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 20.20%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.90 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th were given a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.70%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MKTX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $194.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $186.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Piper Sandler set a $180.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $255.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $205.91.

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates an electronic trading platform for institutional investor and broker-dealer companies worldwide. The company offers trading technology that provides liquidity access in U.S. high-grade bonds, U.S. high-yield bonds, emerging market debt, eurobonds, municipal bonds, U.S.