Azora Capital LP Makes New Investment in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Key Points

• Azora Capital acquired 513,081 MarketAxess shares worth approximately $58.2 million, making MKTX about 2.5% of its portfolio and giving the fund a 1.46% stake. Institutional investors collectively own 99.01% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: MarketAxess has an average “Hold” rating and a $156.10 consensus price target, with several firms recently lowering targets or downgrading the stock.
• MarketAxess exceeded quarterly earnings expectations with $1.95 EPS and $218.41 million in revenue, although revenue declined 0.5% year over year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.78 per share, representing a 1.9% yield.

Azora Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 513,081 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $58,230,000. MarketAxess accounts for about 2.5% of Azora Capital LP's portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Azora Capital LP owned 1.46% of MarketAxess as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Amundi boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 803.9% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 258,708 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $42,682,000 after buying an additional 230,087 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 638.7% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 21,009 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,472,000 after buying an additional 18,165 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 32.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 263,858 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $43,531,000 after buying an additional 64,627 shares during the period. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 523.8% in the 1st quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 104,174 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $17,187,000 after buying an additional 87,474 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter worth about $453,941,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on MKTX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $168.00 to $130.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MarketAxess from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. UBS Group cut shares of MarketAxess from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of MarketAxess from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $170.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, June 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $156.10.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.0%

MKTX stock opened at $162.52 on Thursday. The company's 50 day moving average price is $134.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $150.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.83. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $108.75 and a fifty-two week high of $195.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 1.85.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.22% and a return on equity of 22.48%. The company had revenue of $218.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $216.70 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.00 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. MarketAxess's payout ratio is 36.79%.

MarketAxess Profile

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates a leading global electronic trading platform specializing in fixed-income securities and related products. The company's network enables institutional investors and broker-dealers to trade corporate bonds, municipal securities, emerging markets debt, U.S. Treasuries and credit default swaps in an automated, multi-dealer environment. MarketAxess also offers portfolio trading, data analytics, best-execution tools and post-trade services to streamline workflows and enhance price discovery across its marketplace.

In addition to core voice-like trading protocols, MarketAxess provides Open Trading®, an anonymous, all-to-all trading protocol designed to improve liquidity and transaction efficiency.

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