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

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,350,000 shares, a decline of 13.5% from the February 28th total of 1,560,000 shares. Approximately 3.7% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 630,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

MarketAxess Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX traded down $3.67 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $212.25. The company had a trading volume of 82,288 shares, compared to its average volume of 646,155. MarketAxess has a 1-year low of $186.84 and a 1-year high of $296.68. The stock has a market cap of $8.00 billion, a PE ratio of 29.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $207.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $238.37.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. On average, research analysts expect that MarketAxess 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 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were paid a $0.76 dividend. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.82%.

Institutional Trading of MarketAxess

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Hawaiian Bank purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter valued at $1,088,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in MarketAxess by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 363,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $82,103,000 after acquiring an additional 5,153 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH boosted its position in MarketAxess by 18.2% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 8,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,842,000 after acquiring an additional 1,256 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at about $539,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,079,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MKTX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $254.78.

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.