Aquatic Capital Management LLC Purchases 9,585 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Aquatic Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 29.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,032 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,585 shares during the quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.11% of MarketAxess worth $7,324,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new stake in MarketAxess during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 200.0% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MKTX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Barclays lowered 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. Wall Street Zen raised MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Argus reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $212.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $200.40.

MarketAxess Stock Down 0.8%

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $180.12 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.93. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.17 and a 52 week high of $232.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a current ratio of 2.80. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $176.35 and a 200-day moving average of $174.73.

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

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.85%.

MarketAxess 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.