MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX Shares Sold by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC cut its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 24.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,638 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC owned 0.06% of MarketAxess worth $4,208,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 485.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 758,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $167,195,000 after purchasing an additional 628,954 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MarketAxess during the second quarter worth about $114,593,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in MarketAxess by 119.1% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 487,197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $108,811,000 after buying an additional 264,855 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in MarketAxess by 181.2% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 250,037 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,843,000 after buying an additional 161,115 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 535.8% in the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 108,481 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,228,000 after buying an additional 91,419 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MKTX shares. Argus decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $212.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $194.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Loop Capital set a $164.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $202.91.

MarketAxess Stock Down 1.7%

MKTX opened at $168.77 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $6.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.70, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $172.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $183.79. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.17 and a 52 week high of $232.84.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $208.82 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.59 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 20.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.90 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th were paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 19th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is presently 51.70%.

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.