Entropy Technologies LP Takes $882,000 Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 4,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $882,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 316.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 11,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,367,000 after acquiring an additional 8,771 shares during the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. increased its stake in MarketAxess by 84.0% during the 4th quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 9,861 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,888,000 after purchasing an additional 4,502 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in MarketAxess by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 96,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,253,000 after purchasing an additional 21,041 shares in the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in MarketAxess by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 176,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,584,000 after purchasing an additional 5,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in MarketAxess by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,526,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,325,563,000 after purchasing an additional 34,197 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX traded up $2.97 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $224.61. The company had a trading volume of 408,382 shares, compared to its average volume of 428,512. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 1.03. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $192.42 and a 1-year high of $297.97. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $204.79 and its 200-day moving average is $220.39.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $210.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.99 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.82% and a net margin of 33.83%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.96 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.04 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 21st. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 43.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MKTX shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Bank of America started coverage on MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 price target for the company. UBS Group reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Barclays reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $241.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total transaction of $99,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,034,895.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates an electronic trading platform for institutional investor and broker-dealer companies worldwide. The company offers trading technology that provides liquidity access in U.S. high-grade bonds, U.S. high-yield bonds, emerging market debt, eurobonds, municipal bonds, U.S.