Short Interest in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Declines By 15.9%

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) was the target of a large decrease in short interest during the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 975,000 shares, a decrease of 15.9% from the May 15th total of 1,160,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 427,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days. Currently, 2.6% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MKTX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $236.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on MarketAxess from $250.00 to $237.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on MarketAxess in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $249.73.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

Shares of MKTX opened at $200.22 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $206.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $231.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.40, a PEG ratio of 5.02 and a beta of 1.04. MarketAxess has a one year low of $192.54 and a one year high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $210.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.99 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.83% and a return on equity of 20.82%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.96 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that MarketAxess will post 7.17 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 21st. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.47%.

Insider Activity

In other MarketAxess news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total value of $99,740.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,034,895.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MarketAxess

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 316.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 11,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,367,000 after acquiring an additional 8,771 shares during the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. increased its position in MarketAxess by 84.0% during the fourth quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 9,861 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,888,000 after purchasing an additional 4,502 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in MarketAxess by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 96,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,253,000 after purchasing an additional 21,041 shares during the period. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 176,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,584,000 after purchasing an additional 5,859 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 181,652 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,196,000 after purchasing an additional 30,733 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MarketAxess Company 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.