SG Americas Securities LLC Sells 12,717 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Key Points

• SG Americas Securities LLC cut its stake in MarketAxess by 52.7% in Q4, selling 12,717 shares and retaining 11,432 shares worth about $2.07 million.
• MarketAxess missed Q4 consensus with $1.68 EPS (vs. $1.72 expected) and $209.41M revenue (vs. $214.06M), although revenue was up 3.5% year-over-year.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.78 (annualized $3.12) for a yield of about 1.8%, up from the prior $0.76 quarterly payout.

SG Americas Securities LLC lowered its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 52.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,432 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 12,717 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings in MarketAxess were worth $2,072,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the second quarter worth $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 200.0% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Stance Capital LLC purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the third quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at about $43,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $171.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.80 and a quick ratio of 2.80. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.17 and a 1 year high of $232.84. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $175.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $173.35. The company has a market cap of $6.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.74, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.01.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $209.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $214.06 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 29.14% and a return on equity of 20.88%. MarketAxess's revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.73 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. This is a boost from MarketAxess's previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MKTX has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $182.00 to $178.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $201.44.

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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