Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 4.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,263 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew 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 worth $26,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 49.1% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 57.4% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the first quarter valued at approximately $56,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

MarketAxess Trading Up 1.1%

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $180.14 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $6.73 billion, a PE ratio of 30.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $190.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $208.87. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $176.57 and a 12-month high of $296.68.

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

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MKTX. UBS Group reduced their target price on MarketAxess from $295.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Argus upgraded MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $212.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $204.00 price target (up previously from $202.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $228.09.

MarketAxess Profile

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.