Intech Investment Management LLC Reduces Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Intech Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 79.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 26,716 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,190,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MKTX. MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in MarketAxess by 200.0% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 992.9% in the second quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the third quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter worth $43,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MKTX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $194.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Barclays reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $182.00 to $178.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Wall Street Zen raised MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $200.40.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.9%

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $186.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.80 and a quick ratio of 2.80. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $176.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $175.08. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.17 and a 1-year high of $232.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.94, a PEG ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.93.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.04). MarketAxess had a net margin of 29.14% and a return on equity of 20.88%. The business had revenue of $209.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $214.06 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.73 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is presently 46.85%.

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.