Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys 138,191 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 285.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 186,569 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 138,191 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.49% of MarketAxess worth $40,364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Allianz SE acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in MarketAxess by 495.2% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in MarketAxess by 13,900.0% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in MarketAxess by 49.1% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 164 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank increased its position in MarketAxess by 185.7% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 160 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company's stock.

MarketAxess Stock Down 0.2%

MarketAxess stock traded down $0.37 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $224.88. 286,943 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 501,315. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $220.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $217.83. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $186.84 and a 52 week high of $296.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.43 billion, a PE ratio of 30.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.84.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. The business had revenue of $208.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.81 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.92 EPS. MarketAxess's quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 21st. MarketAxess's payout ratio is currently 52.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MKTX shares. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $232.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. William Blair started coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Friday, April 4th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $241.78.

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.