Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Makes New Investment in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Key Points

• Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc., buying 2,511 shares valued at approximately $543,000.
• MarketAxess reported a quarterly earnings per share of $2.00, exceeding analyst expectations, with revenue increasing 11.0% year-over-year.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 1.6%.

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 2,511 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $543,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MKTX. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 999.6% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 222,342 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $48,104,000 after buying an additional 202,121 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 25,960.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 183,465 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $39,693,000 after purchasing an additional 182,761 shares in the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 64.8% in the 1st quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 402,511 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $87,083,000 after purchasing an additional 158,240 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in MarketAxess by 285.6% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 186,569 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $40,364,000 after acquiring an additional 138,191 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in MarketAxess in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,786,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MarketAxess news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 1,494 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.32, for a total value of $276,868.08. Following the sale, the executive directly owned 67,681 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,542,642.92. This represents a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 1,600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,062,180.72. The trade was a 3.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX traded down $3.17 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $181.68. The company's stock had a trading volume of 737,078 shares, compared to its average volume of 640,729. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $197.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $210.44. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $178.20 and a 12 month high of $296.68. The company has a market capitalization of $6.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.88.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last released 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. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.62% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business had revenue of $219.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $218.05 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. MarketAxess's payout ratio is 51.18%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MKTX. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $295.00 to $255.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Barclays cut their price target on MarketAxess from $237.00 to $200.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $204.00 price target (up previously from $202.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $228.09.

MarketAxess Profile

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.