Squarepoint Ops LLC Cuts Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Squarepoint Ops LLC trimmed its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 74.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 18,367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 53,771 shares during the quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $4,102,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MKTX. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 485.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 758,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $167,195,000 after buying an additional 628,954 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the second quarter valued at approximately $114,593,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 329.4% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 618,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $133,904,000 after acquiring an additional 474,776 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 119.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 487,197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $108,811,000 after purchasing an additional 264,855 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in MarketAxess by 181.2% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 250,037 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,843,000 after purchasing an additional 161,115 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on MKTX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on MarketAxess from $194.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered MarketAxess from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $247.00 to $209.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. UBS Group decreased their price target on MarketAxess from $255.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Loop Capital set a $164.00 price target on MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $180.00 price objective on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $205.91.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

MarketAxess stock opened at $179.20 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $168.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $189.43. The company has a market cap of $6.66 billion, a PE ratio of 30.48, a PEG ratio of 8.13 and a beta of 1.00. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.17 and a fifty-two week high of $236.82.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.15. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.20% and a net margin of 26.16%.The firm had revenue of $208.82 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $212.59 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 19th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.70%.

MarketAxess Profile

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.