American Century Companies Inc. Boosts Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. significantly increased its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. by 999.6%, now owning approximately 222,342 shares worth around $48.1 million.
• MarketAxess reported an EPS of $2.00 for the recent quarter, surpassing estimates, with revenue increasing 11.0% year-over-year to $219.46 million.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, representing an annualized yield of 1.6%.

American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 999.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 222,342 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 202,121 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.60% of MarketAxess worth $48,104,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the 1st quarter valued at about $280,000. Praxis Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the first quarter valued at approximately $376,000. Wilson Asset Management International PTY Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 26.6% in the first quarter. Wilson Asset Management International PTY Ltd. now owns 60,492 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $13,087,000 after purchasing an additional 12,697 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 210.8% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,400 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,764,000 after purchasing an additional 11,801 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 13.6% in the first quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 24,671 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,338,000 after buying an additional 2,947 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MKTX shares. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $283.00 to $274.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $228.09.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX traded up $1.42 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $190.15. 818,491 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 648,016. The company has a market cap of $7.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.01, a PEG ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $208.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $211.33. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $182.99 and a 52 week high of $296.68.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.06. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 26.62%.The business had revenue of $219.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.05 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.18%.

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.