GW&K Investment Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

GW&K Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 78.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 113,395 shares during the quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $5,335,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in MarketAxess by 151.0% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $580,000 after acquiring an additional 1,614 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 8.4% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 40.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 3,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $689,000 after purchasing an additional 921 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter worth about $406,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on MKTX. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Barclays cut their price target on MarketAxess from $182.00 to $178.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $200.40.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.9%

NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $186.11 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $156.17 and a twelve month high of $232.84. The company has a market cap of $6.62 billion, a PE ratio of 27.94, a P/E/G ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s 50 day moving average is $176.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.16.

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

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

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

About MarketAxess

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.