Merit Financial Group LLC Takes $353,000 Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,630 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $353,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Allianz SE purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 495.2% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 13,900.0% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank increased its stake in MarketAxess by 185.7% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 160 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in MarketAxess by 49.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered MarketAxess from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. William Blair assumed coverage on MarketAxess in a research note on Friday, April 4th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $213.00 to $202.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $263.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $241.78.

MarketAxess Stock Down 0.7%

NASDAQ:MKTX traded down $1.64 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $225.25. 296,732 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 502,175. The business has a 50-day moving average of $219.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $218.37. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $186.84 and a twelve month high of $296.68. The company has a market capitalization of $8.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.98, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.84.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $208.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.81 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. The company's revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.92 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 21st. MarketAxess's payout ratio is currently 52.87%.

MarketAxess Company 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.