Van Den Berg Management I Inc. Boosts Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Van Den Berg Management I Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 116.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 30,399 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 16,382 shares during the period. Van Den Berg Management I Inc.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $5,510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 444.2% during the third quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 38,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,638,000 after buying an additional 31,093 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in MarketAxess by 305.3% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 46,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,449,000 after purchasing an additional 35,056 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in MarketAxess by 163.1% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 12,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,280,000 after purchasing an additional 7,798 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its stake in MarketAxess by 66.6% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,230,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $388,681,000 after purchasing an additional 891,303 shares during the period. Finally, North Reef Capital Management LP grew its stake in MarketAxess by 117.0% in the third 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 period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Trading Up 3.1%

MarketAxess stock opened at $124.81 on Wednesday. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $145.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $164.78. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $113.29 and a 12 month high of $225.59. The company has a market capitalization of $4.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.86.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.10. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 35.53%.The business had revenue of $233.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.87 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were issued a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 36.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MKTX shares. Bank of America raised MarketAxess from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Barclays reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $189.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. UBS Group reduced their price target on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Argus cut MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $134.00 price target (down from $189.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Two equities 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $183.10.

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.