MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX is NFJ Investment Group LLC's 10th Largest Position

Key Points

• NFJ Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. by 89.0% in the first quarter, purchasing an additional 108,219 shares, making it the firm's 10th largest position.
• MarketAxess reported earnings of $2.00 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations, with a revenue increase of 11.0% year-over-year, totaling $219.46 million.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, representing a dividend yield of 1.7% and a payout ratio of 51.18%.

NFJ Investment Group LLC grew its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 89.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 229,763 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 108,219 shares during the quarter. MarketAxess accounts for approximately 1.7% of NFJ Investment Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. NFJ Investment Group LLC owned approximately 0.61% of MarketAxess worth $49,709,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MKTX. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in MarketAxess by 49.1% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 164 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 57.4% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 222 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 1st quarter valued at about $56,000. Intact Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 1st quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 173.0% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 333 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MKTX. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $237.00 to $200.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating and set a $204.00 price objective (up from $202.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $295.00 to $255.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Five equities 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $228.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 1,600 shares of the company'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 value of $298,544.00. Following the sale, the director owned 43,208 shares in the company, valued at $8,062,180.72. This represents a 3.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MarketAxess Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of MarketAxess stock traded down $4.18 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $183.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 351,534 shares, compared to its average volume of 597,333. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $178.20 and a 1-year high of $296.68. The company has a market cap of $6.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $199.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $210.56.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $219.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.05 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.72 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors 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%.

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.