Citigroup Inc. Raises Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Key Points

• Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. by 3.9% in the first quarter, acquiring an additional 1,886 shares, resulting in a total ownership of nearly 49,941 shares valued at approximately $10.8 million.
• MarketAxess reported earnings of $2.00 per share for the most recent quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $1.94, and showing an 11% year-over-year revenue growth to $219.46 million.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.76, resulting in an annualized yield of 1.6%, with the payment scheduled for September 3rd to shareholders of record on August 20th.

Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 3.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,941 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,886 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of MarketAxess worth $10,805,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 49.1% in 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 in the last quarter. State of Wyoming raised 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 valued at $109,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 13.0% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 522 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 1,701 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $384,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 422 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MKTX shares. Wall Street Zen raised MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Barclays decreased 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. Citigroup lifted their price target on MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group decreased 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $229.70.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX traded up $0.2210 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $187.0710. The company's stock had a trading volume of 143,843 shares, compared to its average volume of 587,460. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.54, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $210.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $211.82. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $182.99 and a fifty-two week high of $296.68.

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

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio is 51.18%.

About MarketAxess

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.