Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Makes New $374,000 Investment in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI bought a new stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $374,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in MarketAxess by 200.0% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new position in MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in MarketAxess by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Finally, Westpac Banking Corp purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the 1st quarter worth $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $161.90 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.09, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.83. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $108.75 and a one year high of $195.96. The company’s fifty day moving average is $131.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $150.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 1.85.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $218.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $216.70 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 35.22% and a return on equity of 22.48%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.00 EPS. Analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MKTX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $168.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Barclays increased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $132.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $175.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded MarketAxess from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.10.

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.