Short Interest in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Decreases By 13.5%

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) saw a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,350,000 shares, a decline of 13.5% from the February 28th total of 1,560,000 shares. Approximately 3.7% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 630,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays dropped their price target on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $255.44.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 179.5% during the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Allianz SE purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 495.2% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 13,900.0% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in MarketAxess by 49.1% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MarketAxess Stock Up 4.2 %

MKTX stock traded up $8.80 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $219.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 338,204 shares, compared to its average volume of 463,796. The stock has a market cap of $8.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.21, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $207.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $238.18. MarketAxess has a 1 year low of $186.84 and a 1 year high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a net margin of 33.56% and a return on equity of 20.23%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MarketAxess will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were paid a $0.76 dividend. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.82%.

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.