Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Purchases Shares of 7,679 MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 7,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,540,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 28,547.8% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 13,178 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,859,000 after purchasing an additional 13,132 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth about $674,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth about $525,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth about $57,000. Finally, abrdn plc grew its position in MarketAxess by 69.5% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 15,984 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,681,000 after acquiring an additional 6,555 shares in the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on MKTX. UBS Group dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Barclays dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com upgraded MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.60.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ MKTX traded up $1.43 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $232.62. The stock had a trading volume of 321,776 shares, compared to its average volume of 418,827. The firm has a market cap of $8.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.16, a P/E/G ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $215.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $213.57. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $192.42 and a 52-week high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $197.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $198.07 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.82% and a net margin of 33.83%. MarketAxess’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.63 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 43.47%.

MarketAxess declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,034,895.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total transaction of $99,740.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,034,895.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.63, for a total value of $142,915.71. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,409 shares in the company, valued at $1,716,146.67. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.