Ashford Capital Management Inc. Sells 34,935 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Key Points

• Ashford Capital Management Inc. significantly reduced its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. by 81.7% in the first quarter, holding only 7,830 shares after selling 34,935 shares.
• MarketAxess reported a net revenue increase of 11.0% year-over-year for the quarter, with an earnings per share of $2.00, exceeding analyst expectations.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, representing a dividend yield of 1.7%, to be paid on September 3rd.

Ashford Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 81.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,830 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 34,935 shares during the quarter. Ashford Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,694,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 474.8% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 15,388 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,478,000 after purchasing an additional 12,711 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 29,519 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,672,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 370,853 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $83,828,000 after purchasing an additional 63,061 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 526.9% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 94,205 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $21,294,000 after purchasing an additional 79,178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 22,906 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,178,000 after acquiring an additional 4,996 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MKTX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Citigroup raised their price target on MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $283.00 to $274.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $228.09.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MKTX traded up $1.39 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $181.59. 1,103,338 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 595,293. The company's fifty day moving average price is $203.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $210.83. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $179.10 and a fifty-two week high of $296.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.78 billion, a PE ratio of 30.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.88.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.06. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.62% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company had revenue of $219.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $218.05 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.72 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. MarketAxess's payout ratio is 51.18%.

MarketAxess Profile

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.