Ieq Capital LLC Invests $1.83 Million in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 16,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,832,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 151.0% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $580,000 after acquiring an additional 1,614 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 8.4% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 40.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 3,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $689,000 after purchasing an additional 921 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 200.0% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the second quarter valued at $406,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX opened at $162.50 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market cap of $5.72 billion, a PE ratio of 19.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $133.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $150.75. 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 results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $218.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $216.70 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.22% and a return on equity of 22.48%. MarketAxess’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.00 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.06 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on MarketAxess from $195.00 to $129.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Barclays raised their target price on MarketAxess from $132.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $134.00 price target (down from $189.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Bank of America upgraded shares of 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. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $175.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $156.10.

MarketAxess Company 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.