40,246 Shares in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX Acquired by Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.

Key Points

• Polar Asset Management Partners acquired a new stake of 40,246 shares in MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the third quarter, worth about $7.01 million, representing roughly 0.11% of the company.
• MarketAxess reported quarterly EPS of $1.68 and revenue of $209.41 million, missing estimates and sending the stock down about 2.5%, while the company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.78 ($3.12 annual, ~1.8% yield).
• Analyst sentiment has cooled with several firms trimming price targets and the consensus rating at Hold (average target $200.40), even as major institutions like Primecap increased holdings to 2.23 million shares (~$388.7 million).

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 40,246 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $7,013,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of MarketAxess at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 393.0% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 98,271 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $21,948,000 after purchasing an additional 78,336 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 655.2% during the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 13,700 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,387,000 after purchasing an additional 11,886 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 66.6% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,230,595 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $388,681,000 after purchasing an additional 891,303 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 535.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 108,481 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $24,228,000 after purchasing an additional 91,419 shares during the period. Finally, Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC bought a new position in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth about $3,361,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MKTX shares. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $195.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $182.00 to $178.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Argus cut shares of MarketAxess from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $200.40.

MarketAxess Stock Down 2.5%

MKTX stock opened at $174.63 on Thursday. The company's 50 day moving average is $176.33 and its 200 day moving average is $174.68. The stock has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.17 and a 1-year high of $232.84.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.04). MarketAxess had a net margin of 29.14% and a return on equity of 20.88%. The company had revenue of $209.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $214.06 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.73 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. This is an increase from MarketAxess's previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. MarketAxess's payout ratio is presently 46.85%.

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.

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