Savant Capital LLC Acquires 118,367 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Savant Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 8,277.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 119,797 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 118,367 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC owned about 0.32% of MarketAxess worth $27,079,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. First Hawaiian Bank acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,088,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the third quarter worth approximately $1,966,000. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth approximately $982,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 22.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 55,679 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $14,265,000 after buying an additional 10,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 461.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 57,876 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $13,041,000 after buying an additional 47,568 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.01% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays cut their target price on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $254.78.

MarketAxess Stock Down 0.8 %

MarketAxess stock traded down $1.49 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $191.42. 430,990 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 538,800. The business has a fifty day moving average of $222.81 and a 200 day moving average of $246.46. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $188.88 and a 1-year high of $296.68. The company has a market capitalization of $7.22 billion, a PE ratio of 26.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 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%. Research analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is an increase from MarketAxess's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. MarketAxess's dividend payout ratio is currently 40.72%.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 8,302 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,997,212.14. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.66% of the company's stock.

About MarketAxess

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.