Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Grows Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,157 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $928,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 329.4% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 618,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $133,904,000 after purchasing an additional 474,776 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in MarketAxess by 999.6% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 222,342 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,104,000 after purchasing an additional 202,121 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in MarketAxess by 25,960.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 183,465 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,693,000 after purchasing an additional 182,761 shares in the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 64.8% in the 1st quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 402,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $87,083,000 after acquiring an additional 158,240 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 285.6% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 186,569 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,364,000 after acquiring an additional 138,191 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MKTX shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 11th. Barclays cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $237.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. UBS Group lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $295.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Argus upgraded MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $212.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $283.00 to $274.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $228.09.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.4%

MKTX stock opened at $179.11 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $192.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $209.53. The stock has a market cap of $6.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.88. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $176.57 and a 52-week high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $219.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.05 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 26.62%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.72 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In related news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 1,494 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.32, for a total value of $276,868.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive directly owned 67,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,542,642.92. This trade represents a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 1,600 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.59, for a total value of $298,544.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 43,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,062,180.72. This trade represents a 3.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

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.