MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX Shares Acquired by Sei Investments Co.

Key Points

• Sei Investments more than doubled its MarketAxess stake in the first quarter, acquiring 16,047 additional shares for a total holding valued at approximately $4.99 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 99.01% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly cautious: MarketAxess has a consensus “Hold” rating, with 11 holds, two buys and one sell. Several firms recently cut their price targets, contributing to an average target of $160.18.
• MarketAxess exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $1.95 in EPS and $218 million in revenue, although revenue declined 0.5% year over year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.78 per share, equivalent to a 1.9% annualized yield.

Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 113.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,231 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 16,047 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. owned about 0.09% of MarketAxess worth $4,987,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 42.4% in the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,175,425 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $575,546,000 after purchasing an additional 944,830 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 169.0% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,558,097 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $463,655,000 after purchasing an additional 1,607,009 shares during the last quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 76.6% during the 4th quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 1,609,330 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $291,691,000 after purchasing an additional 697,972 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,532,696 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $342,312,000 after purchasing an additional 67,290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 5,086.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 951,024 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $172,373,000 after buying an additional 932,687 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MKTX shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $134.00 price target (down from $189.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MarketAxess from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $170.00 to $132.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $168.00 to $130.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, William Blair downgraded shares of MarketAxess from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Two equities research analysts have 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 an average price target of $160.18.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX opened at $162.35 on Wednesday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $108.75 and a 1 year high of $210.05. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $121.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $151.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a PE ratio of 19.15, a P/E/G ratio of 16.04 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a current ratio of 2.17.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.22% and a return on equity of 22.48%. The company had revenue of $218.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $216.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.00 earnings per share. MarketAxess's revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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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