JPMorgan Chase & Co. Buys 28,881 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 447,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,881 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 1.21% of MarketAxess worth $78,051,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake 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. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Stance Capital LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $43,000. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MKTX shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $182.00 to $178.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Argus downgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $200.40.

MarketAxess Trading Down 2.5%

MKTX stock opened at $174.63 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $176.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.68. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.17 and a fifty-two week high of $232.84. The firm has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a PE ratio of 26.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a current ratio of 2.80.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.04). MarketAxess had a net margin of 29.14% and a return on equity of 20.88%. The business had revenue of $209.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $214.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.73 EPS. MarketAxess’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.85%.

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.