Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Has $1.92 Million Stock Holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. trimmed its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 22.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,063 shares during the period. MarketAxess accounts for about 0.8% of Lecap Asset Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Lecap Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $1,921,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 1.8% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $579,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 4.2% in the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 1.9% in the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 3,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $614,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alamar Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 0.5% in the third quarter. Alamar Capital Management LLC now owns 16,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,933,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX opened at $169.00 on Friday. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $176.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $172.96. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $156.17 and a one year high of $232.84. The firm has a market cap of $6.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.01.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.88% and a net margin of 29.14%.The company had revenue of $209.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $214.06 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.73 EPS. MarketAxess’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. 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 1.8%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 46.85%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MKTX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. UBS Group lowered their target price on MarketAxess from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Argus cut MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MarketAxess currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $201.11.

About MarketAxess

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.