1,673 Shares in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Bought by Ground Swell Capital LLC

Key Points

• Ground Swell Capital LLC purchased 1,673 shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. for approximately $362,000, indicating growing interest from institutional investors.
• MarketAxess reported $2.00 earnings per share, exceeding analysts' estimates, and generated a revenue of $219.46 million for the last quarter, showing an 11% year-over-year increase.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, reflecting an annualized amount of $3.04 and a dividend yield of 1.6%.

Ground Swell Capital LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,673 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $362,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 192.3% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 5,694 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,287,000 after purchasing an additional 3,746 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in MarketAxess by 29.1% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 7,948 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,946,000 after purchasing an additional 1,792 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its position in MarketAxess by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 16,245 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,672,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its position in MarketAxess by 55.5% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,189 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares during the period. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,852,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $204.00 price objective (up from $202.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $295.00 to $255.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $229.70.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MarketAxess stock traded up $2.41 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $190.04. The stock had a trading volume of 686,996 shares, compared to its average volume of 568,961. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $212.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $212.27. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $182.99 and a twelve month high of $296.68. The firm has a market cap of $7.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.99, a PEG ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 0.84.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.06. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.62% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company had revenue of $219.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.05 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.72 EPS. The company's revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

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