Baillie Gifford & Co. Lowers Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Baillie Gifford & Co. lessened its holdings in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 318,598 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 25,403 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned approximately 0.84% of MarketAxess worth $81,625,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MKTX. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in MarketAxess in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 405.1% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 197 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC boosted its position in shares of MarketAxess by 47.4% during the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its position in MarketAxess by 555.6% in the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 236 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MKTX shares. StockNews.com raised MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $330.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. Two equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $267.50.

MarketAxess Price Performance

Shares of MarketAxess stock traded down $4.50 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $267.13. 266,250 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 407,412. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $271.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $234.69. The stock has a market cap of $10.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.27 and a beta of 1.05. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $192.42 and a 12-month high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The company had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. MarketAxess's revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, August 6th that authorizes the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.11%.

MarketAxess 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.