Hsbc Holdings PLC Takes Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 33,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,814,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned 0.10% of MarketAxess as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter valued at $453,941,000. Primecap Management Co. CA bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the second quarter worth $397,772,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 169.0% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,558,097 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $463,655,000 after purchasing an additional 1,607,009 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 5,086.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 951,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $172,373,000 after purchasing an additional 932,687 shares during the period. Finally, North Reef Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 76.6% during the fourth quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 1,609,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $291,691,000 after purchasing an additional 697,972 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MKTX shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Bank of America upgraded shares of MarketAxess from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $134.00 target price (down from $189.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. UBS Group downgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $200.00 to $167.00 in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, William Blair lowered MarketAxess from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $156.10.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MKTX stock opened at $162.72 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $108.75 and a 1-year high of $195.96. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $136.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $150.83. The company has a market capitalization of $5.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.19, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.85.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $218.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $216.70 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.22% and a return on equity of 22.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.00 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.79%.

MarketAxess 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.