Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Has $2.38 Million Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 61.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,201 shares during the period. MarketAxess comprises about 0.8% of Lecap Asset Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Lecap Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $2,380,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the first quarter valued at approximately $543,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the 1st quarter worth approximately $635,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 151.0% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $580,000 after buying an additional 1,614 shares in the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the first quarter worth $318,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 8.4% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $371,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $173.71 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $171.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.78. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.17 and a fifty-two week high of $232.84. The firm has a market cap of $6.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.54, a P/E/G ratio of 6.06 and a beta of 0.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.84 EPS 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 return on equity of 20.20% and a net margin of 26.16%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.90 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 19th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 51.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MKTX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $194.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Zacks Research raised shares of MarketAxess from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Loop Capital set a $164.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Argus reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $212.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $255.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $204.27.

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.