Capital Fund Management S.A. Acquires Shares of 16,995 MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Key Points

• Capital Fund Management S.A. has invested approximately $3.68 million in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. by acquiring 16,995 shares during the first quarter.
• MarketAxess reported a net income of $219.46 million for the quarter, marking an 11% increase in revenue year-over-year, along with an EPS of $2.00, surpassing estimates.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, with an annualized dividend yield of 1.6%, and currently has a payout ratio of 51.18%.

Capital Fund Management S.A. bought a new position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 16,995 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,677,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 64.8% in the 1st quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 402,511 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $87,083,000 after acquiring an additional 158,240 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 397,867 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $89,934,000 after acquiring an additional 25,763 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 372,468 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $80,583,000 after acquiring an additional 9,244 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 370,853 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $83,828,000 after acquiring an additional 63,061 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 341,738 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $73,935,000 after acquiring an additional 27,177 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Stock Down 2.6%

NASDAQ MKTX traded down $4.91 during trading on Thursday, hitting $182.60. The stock had a trading volume of 339,869 shares, compared to its average volume of 590,004. The company has a market capitalization of $6.82 billion, a PE ratio of 30.75, a PEG ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $206.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $211.02. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $182.31 and a twelve month high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $219.46 million during 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.72 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. MarketAxess's payout ratio is currently 51.18%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen raised MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $295.00 to $255.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Argus raised MarketAxess from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $212.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $228.09.

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.