MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Bought by Caxton Associates LP

Caxton Associates LP raised its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 2,176.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 30,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,682 shares during the quarter. Caxton Associates LP’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $8,786,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MKTX. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 341,734 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $73,008,000 after buying an additional 6,662 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its position in MarketAxess by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 7,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,619,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in MarketAxess by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 128,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,505,000 after purchasing an additional 709 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT increased its position in MarketAxess by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 2,150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $459,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in MarketAxess by 97.0% during the 3rd quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 170,285 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,380,000 after purchasing an additional 83,864 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX traded down $1.99 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $195.09. 179,172 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 433,833. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $208.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $232.21. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $192.54 and a 12 month high of $297.97. The stock has a market cap of $7.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.98 and a beta of 1.04.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.07. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.82% and a net margin of 33.83%. The firm had revenue of $210.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $212.99 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.17 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 21st. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 43.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $236.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $249.73.

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates an electronic trading platform for institutional investor and broker-dealer companies worldwide. The company offers trading technology that provides liquidity access in U.S. high-grade bonds, U.S. high-yield bonds, emerging market debt, eurobonds, municipal bonds, U.S.