MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX Shares Sold by UBS Group AG

UBS Group AG reduced its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 60.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 101,955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 158,306 shares during the period. UBS Group AG’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $18,479,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased 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 worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the third quarter worth about $38,000. Stance Capital LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the third quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the third quarter worth about $43,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on MKTX. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Argus cut shares of MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $190.88.

MarketAxess Stock Down 2.6%

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $141.37 on Wednesday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $141.19 and a 52-week high of $228.16. The company has a 50 day moving average of $169.66 and a 200 day moving average of $171.36. The company has a quick ratio of 2.17, a current ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a market capitalization of $5.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.92.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.53% and a return on equity of 22.28%. The company had revenue of $233.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.91 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.87 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 20th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 36.88%.

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.