Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Grows Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 285.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 186,569 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 138,191 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.49% of MarketAxess worth $40,364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Allianz SE purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in MarketAxess by 495.2% during 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 during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in MarketAxess by 13,900.0% during 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 during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in MarketAxess by 49.1% during 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 during the period. Finally, Huntington National Bank lifted its position in MarketAxess by 185.7% during 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 during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Stock Down 0.7%

MarketAxess stock traded down $1.64 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $225.25. The stock had a trading volume of 296,732 shares, compared to its average volume of 502,175. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.84. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $186.84 and a 12-month high of $296.68. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $219.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $218.37.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $211.81 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.92 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MKTX. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $213.00 to $202.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. William Blair began 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 company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $232.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of MarketAxess from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price 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.