LPL Financial LLC Acquires 3,180 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC has increased its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. by 55.8%, now owning a total of 8,874 shares worth approximately $1,920,000.
• MarketAxess recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, representing an annualized yield of 1.6% and a payout ratio of 51.18%.
• Analysts have varying ratings on MarketAxess, with four analysts issuing a Buy rating, while the consensus target price stands at $229.70.

LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 55.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,874 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,180 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC's holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,920,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,298,409 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $519,533,000 after acquiring an additional 236,118 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 25,960.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 183,465 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $39,693,000 after buying an additional 182,761 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 285.6% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 186,569 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $40,364,000 after buying an additional 138,191 shares during the period. North Reef Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 69.6% during the 4th quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 271,318 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $61,329,000 after buying an additional 111,318 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 55.2% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 232,934 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $52,640,000 after buying an additional 82,860 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $295.00 to $255.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating and set a $204.00 price objective (up previously from $202.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 11th. Four research 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $229.70.

MarketAxess Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of MKTX opened at $189.12 on Thursday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $182.99 and a 12 month high of $296.68. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $210.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $211.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.84, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.84.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $218.05 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.72 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

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

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