Graham Capital Management L.P. Buys Shares of 2,493 MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Key Points

• Graham Capital Management L.P. invested approximately $539,000 in MarketAxess Holdings Inc., acquiring 2,493 shares of the company during the first quarter.
• MarketAxess reported a quarterly earnings figure of $2.00 per share, surpassing analysts' expectations of $1.94, and showed a year-over-year revenue increase of 11%.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 1.6%, with a payout ratio of 51.18%.

Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,493 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $539,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 96.7% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 356 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new position in MarketAxess in the first quarter valued at about $231,000. Twin Tree Management LP acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the first quarter worth about $1,716,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 228,856 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $49,513,000 after purchasing an additional 15,921 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in MarketAxess by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 51,689 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $11,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MKTX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Argus upgraded MarketAxess from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $212.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating and set a $204.00 target price (up previously from $202.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $283.00 to $274.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on MarketAxess from $295.00 to $255.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $228.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MarketAxess news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 1,600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.59, for a total transaction of $298,544.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 43,208 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,062,180.72. The trade was a 3.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.65% of the company's stock.

MarketAxess Trading Up 1.8%

NASDAQ MKTX traded up $3.26 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $187.89. The company had a trading volume of 194,164 shares, compared to its average volume of 597,907. The company has a market capitalization of $7.02 billion, a PE ratio of 31.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.88. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $178.20 and a twelve month high of $296.68. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $199.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $210.38.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $219.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $218.05 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.62% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. MarketAxess's payout ratio is presently 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.