RDST Capital LLC Makes New $28.05 Million Investment in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Key Points

• RDST Capital bought 247,112 MarketAxess shares worth approximately $28.05 million, giving it a 0.70% stake and making MKTX about 2.3% of its portfolio. Institutional investors collectively own 99.01% of the stock.
• Analyst sentiment is mostly cautious: MKTX has a consensus “Hold” rating and a $156.10 target price, with several firms recently lowering targets despite Bank of America upgrading the stock to neutral.
• MarketAxess reported quarterly EPS of $1.95, beating estimates of $1.85, while revenue of $218.41 million slightly exceeded expectations but declined 0.5% year over year. The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.78 per share, representing a 1.9% yield.

RDST Capital LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 247,112 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $28,045,000. MarketAxess accounts for about 2.3% of RDST Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. RDST Capital LLC owned 0.70% of MarketAxess at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 803.9% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 258,708 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $42,682,000 after purchasing an additional 230,087 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 638.7% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 21,009 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,472,000 after purchasing an additional 18,165 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in MarketAxess by 32.4% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 263,858 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $43,531,000 after purchasing an additional 64,627 shares in the last quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. raised its stake in MarketAxess by 523.8% in the first quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 104,174 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $17,187,000 after purchasing an additional 87,474 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in MarketAxess by 86.7% during the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 24,612 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,060,000 after purchasing an additional 11,429 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MKTX has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group cut shares of MarketAxess from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $167.00 in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Rothschild & Co Redburn restated a "neutral" rating and set a $134.00 price objective (down from $189.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Bank of America upgraded shares of MarketAxess from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $170.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $168.00 to $130.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $156.10.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of MKTX opened at $162.46 on Tuesday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $108.75 and a 1 year high of $195.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.85. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $132.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $150.74. The firm has a market cap of $5.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.83.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $218.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $216.70 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.22% and a return on equity of 22.48%. The business's revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.00 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.79%.

About MarketAxess

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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