Bank of America Corp DE Boosts Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Key Points

• Bank of America increased its MarketAxess stake by 32.4% in the first quarter, bringing its holdings to 263,858 shares worth approximately $43.5 million. Institutional investors collectively own 99.01% of the company.
• MarketAxess exceeded quarterly expectations with adjusted EPS of $1.95 versus the $1.85 consensus and revenue of $218.41 million, 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.
• Analyst sentiment is mostly cautious: MarketAxess has a consensus “Hold” rating from 13 analysts, with an average price target of $156.10 compared with the reported share price of $162.60.

Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 32.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 263,858 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 64,627 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE owned approximately 0.74% of MarketAxess worth $43,531,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 3,522 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $614,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 4,203 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $939,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 7,884 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,368,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 200.0% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its position in MarketAxess by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 7,181 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,302,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $162.60 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a current ratio of 2.17. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $108.75 and a fifty-two week high of $195.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $125.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $151.07. The company has a market capitalization of $5.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.17, a PEG ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.83.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $218.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $216.70 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.22% and a return on equity of 22.48%. The business's revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.00 earnings per share. Analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

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 paid 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 dividend payout ratio is 36.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered MarketAxess from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $195.00 to $129.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $134.00 target price (down from $189.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of MarketAxess from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $167.00 in a research report on Friday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $156.10.

MarketAxess Company 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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