Millennium Management LLC Purchases 474,776 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Key Points

• Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. by 329.4% during the first quarter, acquiring 474,776 additional shares to hold a total of 618,922 shares valued at approximately $134 million.
• MarketAxess recently reported $2.00 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations and reflecting an 11% year-over-year revenue growth to $219.46 million.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 1.6% and a payout ratio of 51.18%.

Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 329.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 618,922 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 474,776 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC owned 1.65% of MarketAxess worth $133,904,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in MarketAxess by 73.7% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 1,589 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 674 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 26.6% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 161,490 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $36,503,000 after acquiring an additional 33,949 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 48.4% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 101,442 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $22,930,000 after acquiring an additional 33,078 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,981 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $674,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 3,340 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $755,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

MarketAxess Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of MarketAxess stock traded up $3.05 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $187.68. 309,657 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 598,475. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $178.20 and a twelve month high of $296.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $199.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $210.38.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.06. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.62% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company 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 posted $1.72 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 1,600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.59, for a total transaction of $298,544.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 43,208 shares in the company, valued at $8,062,180.72. The trade was a 3.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.65% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $295.00 to $255.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Argus raised shares of MarketAxess from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $212.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, August 25th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $204.00 target price (up from $202.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Barclays lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $237.00 to $200.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $228.09.

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.