Man Group plc Buys Shares of 14,008 MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Man Group plc bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 14,008 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,590,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MKTX. MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 215.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MarketAxess stock opened at $162.83 on Thursday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $108.75 and a fifty-two week high of $195.96. The company has a market capitalization of $5.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.20, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $138.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $150.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $218.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $216.70 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.48% and a net margin of 35.22%.The business’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.00 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $132.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Rothschild & Co Redburn restated a “neutral” rating and set a $134.00 target price (down from $189.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $195.00 to $129.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.10.

MarketAxess 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.