Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC Purchases Shares of 3,707 MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 3,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $421,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 200.0% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 215.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the second quarter worth about $49,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of MKTX opened at $162.57 on Wednesday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $108.75 and a 52 week high of $195.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company has a market capitalization of $5.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, a PEG ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $129.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $150.86.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $218.41 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $216.70 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 22.48% and a net margin of 35.22%.MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.00 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.05 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group downgraded MarketAxess from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $195.00 to $129.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $168.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $132.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, William Blair cut shares of MarketAxess from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.10.

MarketAxess Profile

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.