Flossbach Von Storch SE Invests $8.51 Million in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Flossbach Von Storch SE purchased a new position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 75,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,512,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE owned 0.21% of MarketAxess at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Amundi increased its position in shares of MarketAxess by 803.9% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 258,708 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,682,000 after purchasing an additional 230,087 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 638.7% during the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 21,009 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,472,000 after acquiring an additional 18,165 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 32.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 263,858 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,531,000 after acquiring an additional 64,627 shares during the last quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. grew its position in MarketAxess by 523.8% in the first quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 104,174 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,187,000 after acquiring an additional 87,474 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in MarketAxess by 10.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 581,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $95,933,000 after acquiring an additional 54,503 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MKTX shares. Bank of America upgraded MarketAxess from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 12th. William Blair cut MarketAxess from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $134.00 price objective (down from $189.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on MarketAxess from $195.00 to $129.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.10.

MarketAxess Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $161.74 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $130.28 and a 200 day moving average of $150.81. The firm has a market cap of $5.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.07, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.83. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $108.75 and a 1 year high of $195.96. 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.22% and a return on equity of 22.48%. The company had revenue of $218.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $216.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.79%.

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.