Amundi Has $3.34 Million Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Key Points

• Amundi cut its MarketAxess position by 88.6% in the second quarter, selling 229,297 shares and retaining 29,411 shares valued at approximately $3.34 million. Institutional investors collectively own 99.01% of the company.
• Analysts are broadly cautious on MKTX, with a consensus “Hold” rating and a $156.10 target price; one analyst rates it Buy, 11 Hold, and one Sell.
• MarketAxess reported quarterly EPS of $1.95, beating estimates of $1.85, while revenue reached $218.41 million. The company also maintains a quarterly dividend of $0.78, or $3.12 annualized, yielding about 1.9%.

Amundi lowered its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 88.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,411 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 229,297 shares during the quarter. Amundi owned 0.08% of MarketAxess worth $3,338,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in MarketAxess by 200.0% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in MarketAxess by 215.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 391 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the second quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 300.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 280 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MKTX. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $132.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $175.00 to $128.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $134.00 price target (down from $189.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, June 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $168.00 to $130.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, William Blair lowered MarketAxess from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $156.10.

MarketAxess Stock Down 0.1%

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $163.00 on Friday. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $145.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $149.79. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $108.75 and a 52-week high of $195.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 1.85. The company has a market cap of $5.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.83.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $218.41 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $216.70 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.48% and a net margin of 35.22%.The business's revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.00 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.06 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were paid a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.79%.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Director William Frank Jr. Cruger sold 6,164 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.20, for a total transaction of $1,005,964.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,033 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $658,185.60. The trade was a 60.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 6,464 shares of company stock valued at $1,050,069 over the last quarter. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MarketAxess Profile

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates an electronic trading platform for institutional fixed-income markets. Through its technology, investors and dealers can trade corporate bonds, government securities, emerging-market debt and other credit products in an electronic environment designed to improve access, execution and transparency.

The company's offerings include its Open Trading marketplace, which connects a broad network of institutional participants, as well as a range of trading protocols that support different liquidity and execution needs.

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