Clear Creek Financial Management LLC Makes New $280,000 Investment in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Clear Creek Financial Management LLC bought a new position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 1,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $280,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in MarketAxess in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $971,000. Rovin Capital UT ADV increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 2,458 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $532,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Hixon Zuercher LLC increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 19.4% in the 1st quarter. Hixon Zuercher LLC now owns 10,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,311,000 after acquiring an additional 1,739 shares in the last quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. bought a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 1st quarter valued at $1,618,000. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its position in MarketAxess by 24.4% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,207 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,155,000 after purchasing an additional 3,764 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Trading Up 1.1%

MKTX stock opened at $221.68 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $220.97 and its 200 day moving average is $216.21. The stock has a market cap of $8.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.85. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $186.84 and a 1-year high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.57% and a return on equity of 19.93%. The business had revenue of $208.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.81 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.92 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 21st. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 52.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MarketAxess from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Friday, April 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $263.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $241.78.

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.