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

Baillie Gifford & Co. reduced its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 17.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 344,001 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 73,059 shares during the quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned about 0.91% of MarketAxess worth $68,983,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 2,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $644,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its position in MarketAxess by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 5,137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,126,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in MarketAxess by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,479,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in MarketAxess by 155.8% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 52.7% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MKTX shares. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $218.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $238.60.

Insider Transactions at MarketAxess

In related news, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.63, for a total value of $142,915.71. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,716,146.67. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other MarketAxess news, insider Christophe Pierre Danie Roupie sold 617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.63, for a total value of $142,915.71. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,716,146.67. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen P. Casper sold 500 shares of MarketAxess stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.48, for a total transaction of $99,740.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,034,895.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX stock traded up $0.30 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $235.82. 184,495 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 416,487. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $192.42 and a 12-month high of $297.97. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $217.17 and its 200 day moving average is $213.77. The company has a market cap of $8.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 1.03.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $197.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $198.07 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.82% and a net margin of 33.83%. The business’s revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be given a $0.74 dividend. This is a positive change from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.47%.

MarketAxess declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.