JPMorgan Chase & Co. Buys 28,881 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 447,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,881 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $78,051,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 1.0% during the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 5,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,105,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Claret Asset Management Corp increased its stake in MarketAxess by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Claret Asset Management Corp now owns 1,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $236,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,602 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $358,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 1.7% in the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 4,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $939,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MKTX opened at $181.65 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.75 billion, a PE ratio of 27.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 3.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $175.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $175.04. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $156.17 and a twelve month 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $209.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $214.06 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 29.14% and a return on equity of 20.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.73 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on MKTX shares. Barclays dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $182.00 to $178.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $194.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $204.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $200.40.

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.