Cwm LLC Increases Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Key Points

• Cwm LLC boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 190.5% in Q4 to 75,665 shares, worth about $13.7 million and representing roughly 0.20% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment has cooled with several downgrades and lower price targets; the consensus rating is an average "Hold" with an average price target of $201.11.
• MarketAxess slightly missed Q4 expectations (EPS $1.68 vs. $1.72; revenue $209.4M vs. $214.1M) but raised its quarterly dividend to $0.78 (annualized $3.12, ~1.8% yield).

Cwm LLC boosted its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 190.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 75,665 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 49,619 shares during the quarter. Cwm LLC owned about 0.20% of MarketAxess worth $13,714,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its stake in MarketAxess by 66.6% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,230,595 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $388,681,000 after acquiring an additional 891,303 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in MarketAxess by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,948,633 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $339,549,000 after acquiring an additional 119,036 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in MarketAxess by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,532,696 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $342,312,000 after acquiring an additional 67,290 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in MarketAxess by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 951,088 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $165,727,000 after acquiring an additional 192,626 shares during the last quarter. Finally, North Reef Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 117.0% in the 3rd quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 911,358 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $158,804,000 after buying an additional 491,358 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on MKTX shares. Argus cut shares of MarketAxess from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Barclays lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $182.00 to $178.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $195.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $201.11.

MarketAxess Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $169.00 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.17 and a 1-year high of $232.84. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $176.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $172.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.80 and a quick ratio of 2.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.01.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.04). MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.88% and a net margin of 29.14%.The business had revenue of $209.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $214.06 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.73 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th were paid a $0.78 dividend. This is a boost from MarketAxess's previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.85%.

About MarketAxess

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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