GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd Has $208.98 Million Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd lessened its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 15.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,153,578 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 207,686 shares during the period. MarketAxess accounts for approximately 5.6% of GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd owned 3.10% of MarketAxess worth $208,976,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 66.6% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,230,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $388,681,000 after buying an additional 891,303 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 6.5% during the 3rd 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. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 4.6% during 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 during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in MarketAxess by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 951,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $165,727,000 after purchasing an additional 192,626 shares during the last quarter. Finally, North Reef Capital Management LP grew its position in MarketAxess by 117.0% in the 3rd quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 911,358 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $158,804,000 after purchasing an additional 491,358 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $130.04 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $129.55 and a 52 week high of $228.16. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market cap of $4.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $157.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $168.81.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $233.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $231.91 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.53% and a return on equity of 22.28%. The business’s revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.87 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.88%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on MKTX. Barclays decreased their target price 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, May 11th. 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods began coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $195.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $190.88.

About MarketAxess

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.