Headlands Technologies LLC Buys Shares of 10,603 MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Key Points

• Headlands Technologies initiated a MarketAxess position of 10,603 shares worth approximately $1.2 million in the second quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 99.01% of MKTX’s outstanding stock.
• Analyst sentiment is largely cautious: MarketAxess has a consensus “Hold” rating and a $156.10 average price target, with several firms downgrading the stock or reducing targets.
• MarketAxess exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $1.95 EPS and $218.41 million in revenue, while revenue declined 0.5% year over year. The company also declared a $0.78 quarterly dividend, representing a 1.9% annualized yield.

Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 10,603 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,203,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in MarketAxess by 40.8% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,153 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $131,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Van Den Berg Management I Inc. raised its position in MarketAxess by 65.7% during the second quarter. Van Den Berg Management I Inc. now owns 52,054 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,908,000 after acquiring an additional 20,631 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 59.8% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 33,576 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,814,000 after purchasing an additional 12,567 shares in the last quarter. Lombard Odier Asset Management Europe Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the second quarter valued at approximately $429,000. Finally, Archer Investment Corp acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the second quarter valued at approximately $113,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on MKTX shares. William Blair downgraded MarketAxess from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $167.00 price target (up from $150.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. UBS Group cut MarketAxess from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen downgraded MarketAxess from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $175.00 to $128.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $156.10.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX opened at $162.63 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 1.85. The company has a market capitalization of $5.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.18, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.83. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $137.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $150.58. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $108.75 and a 1 year high of $195.96.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $218.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $216.70 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.22% and a return on equity of 22.48%. MarketAxess's revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.00 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.06 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.79%.

MarketAxess Company Profile

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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