MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX Shares Acquired by Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C.

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 84.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,450 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 11,200 shares during the quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned approximately 0.07% of MarketAxess worth $5,290,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,323,015 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $502,585,000 after purchasing an additional 24,606 shares during the last quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP now owns 680,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $147,118,000 after purchasing an additional 9,100 shares during the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 64.8% in the 1st quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 402,511 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $87,083,000 after purchasing an additional 158,240 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 372,468 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $80,583,000 after purchasing an additional 9,244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 341,738 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $73,935,000 after purchasing an additional 27,177 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MKTX. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen raised MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $283.00 to $274.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $295.00 to $255.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed 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. Five 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, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $228.09.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MKTX stock traded up $3.32 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $187.95. 464,389 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 599,453. The company has a market cap of $7.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.88. The company's 50 day moving average is $199.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $210.38. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $178.20 and a 1 year high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $219.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.05 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 26.62%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio is currently 51.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.65% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.