UBS Group AG Lowers Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

UBS Group AG cut its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 60.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 101,955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 158,306 shares during the period. UBS Group AG owned 0.27% of MarketAxess worth $18,479,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 14,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,561,000 after buying an additional 2,079 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 9,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,668,000 after purchasing an additional 1,314 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 196.6% during the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 3,891 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $667,000 after purchasing an additional 2,579 shares in the last quarter. waypoint wealth counsel purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the fourth quarter valued at $460,000. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 36,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,550,000 after purchasing an additional 4,576 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MKTX shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods started coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $195.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Argus downgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $190.88.

MarketAxess Stock Down 2.6%

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $141.37 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.02 billion, a PE ratio of 16.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $141.19 and a 12-month high of $228.16. The company has a 50-day moving average of $169.66 and a 200 day moving average of $171.36.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $233.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.91 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.53% and a return on equity of 22.28%. MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.87 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.88%.

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.