MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX Shares Bought by SVB Wealth LLC

Key Points

• SVB Wealth LLC increased its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. by 344% in Q1, now holding 5,816 shares valued at approximately $1.26 million.
• MarketAxess reported a net margin of 26.62% and earnings of $2.00 per share, surpassing analysts’ expectations of $1.94.
• The firm declared a quarterly dividend of $0.76, representing a 1.6% yield and a payout ratio of 51.18%.

SVB Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 344.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,816 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,506 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC's holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,258,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. Mariner LLC increased its stake in MarketAxess by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 2,941 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $665,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 1,701 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $384,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in MarketAxess by 474.8% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 15,388 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,478,000 after buying an additional 12,711 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 397,867 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $89,934,000 after buying an additional 25,763 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its position in MarketAxess by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 9,965 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,252,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MKTX shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $283.00 to $274.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Barclays decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $237.00 to $200.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Argus upgraded MarketAxess from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $212.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $228.09.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MarketAxess stock traded down $0.37 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $189.78. 551,893 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 671,666. The firm has a market cap of $7.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.95, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a fifty day moving average of $207.37 and a 200 day moving average of $211.18. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $182.99 and a 12-month high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $219.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $218.05 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 26.62%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.72 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

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

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.