MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX Shares Bought by Cwm LLC

Cwm LLC increased its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 190.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 75,665 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 49,619 shares during the period. Cwm LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $13,714,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in MarketAxess by 200.0% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Stance Capital LLC purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $169.00 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.17 and a 12-month high of $232.84. The company has a market capitalization of $6.01 billion, a PE ratio of 25.38, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day moving average of $176.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $172.96. The company has a current ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

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

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were issued a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.85%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays cut their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $182.00 to $178.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $195.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $201.11.

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.