MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management S.A. reduced its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. by 6.8%, now owning 173,892 shares valued at approximately $38.84 million.
• MarketAxess recently reported a quarterly EPS of $2.00, surpassing estimates, and experienced an 11% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• The company declared a dividend of $0.76 per share, with a dividend yield of 1.7% and a payout ratio of 51.18%.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. reduced its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 6.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 173,892 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 12,677 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.46% of MarketAxess worth $38,837,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MKTX. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in MarketAxess by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 3,340 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $755,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 483 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $109,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 1,890.5% during the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 20,243 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,576,000 after buying an additional 19,226 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at about $512,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 294,650 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $66,603,000 after buying an additional 43,455 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MKTX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Argus raised MarketAxess from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $212.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $283.00 to $274.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $295.00 to $255.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $237.00 to $200.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $228.09.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.1%

MKTX stock traded up $0.10 during trading on Monday, reaching $178.42. The stock had a trading volume of 891,443 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,114,338. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $176.57 and a 52 week high of $296.68. The stock's 50 day moving average is $193.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $209.75. The firm has a market cap of $6.67 billion, a PE ratio of 30.04, a PEG ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.88.

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

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.18%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.59, for a total transaction of $298,544.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 43,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,062,180.72. This trade represents a 3.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 1,494 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.32, for a total value of $276,868.08. Following the transaction, the executive owned 67,681 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,542,642.92. This represents a 2.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company's stock.

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.