Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases 31,093 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 444.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 31,093 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $6,638,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MKTX. MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in MarketAxess by 200.0% during 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 during the period. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess during the third quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess in the third quarter worth about $53,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MKTX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of MarketAxess from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Argus dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $212.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Barclays cut their price target on MarketAxess from $182.00 to $178.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $200.40.

MarketAxess Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $185.12 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $176.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.58 billion, a PE ratio of 27.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.93. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.17 and a 52-week high of $232.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a current ratio of 2.80.

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

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.85%.

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.