Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC Buys 4,296 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 22.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,296 shares during the quarter. MarketAxess comprises 1.3% of Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $4,274,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MKTX. MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 200.0% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Stance Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter worth approximately $43,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group cut their target price on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings lowered MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $195.00 target price for the company. Argus lowered MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Two research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $190.88.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $116.93 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $152.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $167.09. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.55 and a fifty-two week high of $228.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.17 and a quick ratio of 2.17.

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

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

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

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.