ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. Acquires Shares of 1,600 MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Key Points

• ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. has invested $346,000 in MarketAxess Holdings Inc., acquiring 1,600 shares as per its recent SEC filing.
• MarketAxess reported a quarterly EPS of $2.00, exceeding analysts' expectations, with a revenue increase of 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year.
• The company has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, with an annual yield of 1.6%, to be paid on September 3rd.

ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. purchased a new position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,600 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $346,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 1st quarter valued at $280,000. Praxis Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 1st quarter valued at $376,000. Wilson Asset Management International PTY Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 26.6% during the 1st quarter. Wilson Asset Management International PTY Ltd. now owns 60,492 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $13,087,000 after purchasing an additional 12,697 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 210.8% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,400 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,764,000 after purchasing an additional 11,801 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 24,671 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,338,000 after purchasing an additional 2,947 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MKTX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $283.00 to $274.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $237.00 to $200.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $295.00 to $255.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $204.00 price target (up previously from $202.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $229.70.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MarketAxess stock traded down $1.29 during trading on Thursday, hitting $187.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 382,223 shares, compared to its average volume of 590,902. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $213.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $212.81. The company has a market capitalization of $7.01 billion, a PE ratio of 31.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.84. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $182.99 and a 52 week high of $296.68.

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

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 20th. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.18%.

MarketAxess Company 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.