MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Short Interest Up 102.0% in December

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) saw a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totaling 2,756,858 shares, a growth of 102.0% from the November 30th total of 1,364,812 shares. Currently, 7.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 695,523 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.0 days. Based on an average daily volume of 695,523 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.0 days. Currently, 7.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 66.6% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,230,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $388,681,000 after purchasing an additional 891,303 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 485.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 758,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $167,195,000 after buying an additional 628,954 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the second quarter valued at approximately $114,593,000. North Reef Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 117.0% during the 3rd quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 911,358 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $158,804,000 after buying an additional 491,358 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 329.4% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 618,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,904,000 after buying an additional 474,776 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX traded up $0.74 on Monday, reaching $183.60. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 72,180 shares, compared to its average volume of 669,959. MarketAxess has a 52-week low of $156.17 and a 52-week high of $232.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.22, a PEG ratio of 6.62 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $169.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $186.93.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $208.82 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.59 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 20.20%. MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.90 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that MarketAxess will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th were issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 51.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $255.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $186.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Piper Sandler set a $180.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Zacks Research raised shares of MarketAxess from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $204.82.

MarketAxess Company Profile

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.