MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Short Interest Update

by · The Markets Daily

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTXGet Free Report) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 27th, there was short interest totaling 1,470,800 shares, a decrease of 19.2% from the February 12th total of 1,819,848 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 484,090 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days. Approximately 4.3% of the company’s shares are short sold. Approximately 4.3% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 484,090 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on MKTX. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $182.00 to $178.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Wall Street Zen raised MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Argus cut MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $200.40.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on MarketAxess

MarketAxess Price Performance

NASDAQ:MKTX traded down $1.22 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $179.11. The stock had a trading volume of 316,309 shares, compared to its average volume of 530,150. MarketAxess has a 12 month low of $156.17 and a 12 month high of $232.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.37 billion, a PE ratio of 26.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.80 and a quick ratio of 2.80. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $176.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTXGet Free Report) last released its 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 business had revenue of $209.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $214.06 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 29.14% and a return on equity of 20.88%. The business’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.73 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MarketAxess will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Investors 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. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.85%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MKTX. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 393.0% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 98,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,948,000 after purchasing an additional 78,336 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 655.2% in the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 13,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,387,000 after acquiring an additional 11,886 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its position in shares of MarketAxess by 66.6% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,230,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $388,681,000 after acquiring an additional 891,303 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 535.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 108,481 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,228,000 after purchasing an additional 91,419 shares during the period. Finally, Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,361,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About MarketAxess

(Get Free Report)

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.

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