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

Baillie Gifford & Co. lowered its position in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 303,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 15,398 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned approximately 0.80% of MarketAxess worth $68,535,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,000,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $452,246,000 after purchasing an additional 236,497 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 17.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $501,907,000 after purchasing an additional 291,134 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,338,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $343,032,000 after acquiring an additional 8,042 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,076,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $275,122,000 after acquiring an additional 139,949 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 42.1% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 393,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,911,000 after acquiring an additional 116,607 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ MKTX opened at $193.49 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $219.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $245.98. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $188.88 and a 52-week high of $296.68. The company has a market cap of $7.29 billion, a PE ratio of 26.61, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.02.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. This is an increase from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MarketAxess

In other MarketAxess news, General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.57, for a total value of $72,171.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MKTX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.78.

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.