SG Americas Securities LLC Sells 5,400 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

SG Americas Securities LLC reduced its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 47.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,032 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,400 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $995,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its stake in MarketAxess by 42.4% in the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,175,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $575,546,000 after purchasing an additional 944,830 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 169.0% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,558,097 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $463,655,000 after buying an additional 1,607,009 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 6.5% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,948,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $339,549,000 after buying an additional 119,036 shares during the last quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 76.6% in the 4th quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 1,609,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $291,691,000 after buying an additional 697,972 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,532,696 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $342,312,000 after buying an additional 67,290 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $116.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $108.75 and a twelve month high of $222.40. The company has a market cap of $4.14 billion, a PE ratio of 13.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s 50 day moving average is $131.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $160.05.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted 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 business had revenue of $233.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $231.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.87 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th were given a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.88%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MKTX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $168.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $195.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $134.00 price objective (down from $189.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $178.27.

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.