MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Short Interest Up 51.9% in March

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 2,233,705 shares, an increase of 51.9% from the February 26th total of 1,470,800 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 556,293 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.0 days. Approximately 6.5% of the company’s stock are sold short.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX stock opened at $164.12 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $175.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.87. The company has a quick ratio of 2.80, a current ratio of 2.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market cap of $5.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.64, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.93. MarketAxess has a fifty-two week low of $156.17 and a fifty-two week high of $232.84.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.04). MarketAxess had a net margin of 29.14% and a return on equity of 20.88%. The company had revenue of $209.41 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $214.06 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.73 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th were given a $0.78 dividend. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 46.85%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. ING Groep NV grew its stake in MarketAxess by 655.2% during the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 13,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,387,000 after buying an additional 11,886 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in MarketAxess by 66.6% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,230,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $388,681,000 after buying an additional 891,303 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake 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 during the last quarter. Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in MarketAxess in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,361,000. Finally, Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 2.9% in the second quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 414,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $92,545,000 after acquiring an additional 11,859 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MKTX. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings raised MarketAxess from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $182.00 to $178.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $200.40.

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.