MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX Shares Sold by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp lessened its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 25.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 924,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 314,668 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $104,935,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new position in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted 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 purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the second quarter worth $49,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MarketAxess stock opened at $162.72 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $136.14 and its 200-day moving average is $150.83. The company has a market cap of $5.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.85. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $108.75 and a 12 month high of $195.96.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.48% and a net margin of 35.22%.The business had revenue of $218.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $216.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.00 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 36.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $168.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Barclays upped 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. William Blair cut shares of MarketAxess from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Monday, August 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.10.

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.