Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC Takes Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 17,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,118,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 891,303 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 6.5% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,948,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $339,549,000 after acquiring an additional 119,036 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 4.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,532,696 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $342,312,000 after purchasing an additional 67,290 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 25.4% during the third 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 period. Finally, North Reef Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of MarketAxess stock opened at $164.12 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $173.94. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.17 and a 12-month high of $232.84. The company has a market capitalization of $5.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $209.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $214.06 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 29.14% and a return on equity of 20.88%. MarketAxess’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.73 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were issued a $0.78 dividend. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.85%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $182.00 to $178.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 9th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Argus downgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $200.40.

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.