Baillie Gifford & Co. Sells 15,398 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Baillie Gifford & Co. lowered its position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 303,200 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 15,398 shares during the quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned 0.80% of MarketAxess worth $68,535,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 230.4% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 261 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $71,103,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its position in MarketAxess by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,340 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in MarketAxess by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $452,246,000 after purchasing an additional 236,497 shares during the period. Finally, Savant Capital LLC increased its position in MarketAxess by 8,277.4% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 119,797 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $27,079,000 after purchasing an additional 118,367 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at MarketAxess

In related news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on MKTX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays cut their price target on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $254.78.

MarketAxess Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of MKTX traded up $4.15 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $193.96. The stock had a trading volume of 799,402 shares, compared to its average volume of 551,009. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $186.84 and a 12 month high of $296.68. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $216.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $244.73. The company has a market capitalization of $7.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 1.02.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. On average, equities analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.82 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This is an increase from MarketAxess's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess's payout ratio is 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.