Ieq Capital LLC Grows Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Key Points

• Ieq Capital LLC has increased its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. by 17.0%, holding 11,657 shares valued at approximately $2.52 million as of its recent SEC filing.
• MarketAxess reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $2.00 for the last quarter, exceeding expectations of $1.94, with revenues rising 11% year-over-year.
• The company has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.76, equating to an annualized yield of 1.7%, scheduled for payment on September 3rd.

Ieq Capital LLC increased its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 17.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,657 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,690 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC's holdings in MarketAxess were worth $2,522,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MKTX. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $283.00 to $274.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $204.00 price objective (up previously from $202.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $237.00 to $200.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Argus raised shares of MarketAxess from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $212.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Five 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $228.09.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MarketAxess stock traded down $2.83 during trading on Thursday, reaching $178.76. The company had a trading volume of 289,147 shares, compared to its average volume of 593,375. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $202.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $210.62. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $178.78 and a 1-year high of $296.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.68 billion, a PE ratio of 30.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.88.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.06. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 26.62%.The company had revenue of $219.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $218.05 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.72 EPS. MarketAxess's revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 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.