MUFG Securities EMEA plc Acquires Shares of 7,530 MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 7,530 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,365,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised 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 valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Stance Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 111.6% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MarketAxess stock opened at $123.18 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $156.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $168.51. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.51 and a 12-month high of $228.16. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

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

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be paid a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 36.88%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on MKTX shares. Argus cut shares of MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.