Magnetar Financial LLC Has $2.83 Million Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Magnetar Financial LLC decreased its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 49.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 15,649 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $2,828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MKTX. MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in MarketAxess by 200.0% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in MarketAxess during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Argus dropped their price objective on MarketAxess from $212.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Barclays lowered their target price 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. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $200.40.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $179.00 on Thursday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.17 and a 12-month high of $232.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $176.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.80, a current ratio of 2.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

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

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 payout ratio is 46.85%.

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.