Prospector Partners LLC Invests $6.62 Million in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Prospector Partners LLC bought a new position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 37,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,615,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in MarketAxess by 200.0% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 992.9% in the second quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on MKTX shares. UBS Group decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Argus lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $212.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $194.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $200.40.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MarketAxess stock opened at $176.12 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 3.42, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.44, a PEG ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50-day moving average of $175.17 and a 200-day moving average of $175.53. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.17 and a 1 year high of $232.84.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $209.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $214.06 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 29.14% and a return on equity of 20.88%. The business’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.73 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.78 dividend. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.65%.

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.