Geneva Capital Management LLC Raises Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Geneva Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 2.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,298,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. Gladius Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 39.6% in the 3rd quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP now owns 134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 47.3% in the 4th quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 2,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $644,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,618 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,060,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its stake in MarketAxess by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 5,137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,126,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MKTX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group cut their price target on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. StockNews.com downgraded MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $247.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MarketAxess news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total transaction of $99,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,034,895.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MarketAxess stock traded up $6.99 during trading on Thursday, hitting $213.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 375,628 shares, compared to its average volume of 430,394. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.39, a P/E/G ratio of 5.16 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $203.38 and its 200 day moving average is $223.00. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $192.42 and a 1-year high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $210.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.99 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.82% and a net margin of 33.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.96 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.47%.

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates an electronic trading platform for institutional investor and broker-dealer companies worldwide. The company offers trading technology that provides liquidity access in U.S. high-grade bonds, U.S. high-yield bonds, emerging market debt, eurobonds, municipal bonds, U.S.