MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Shares Sold by Burgundy Asset Management Ltd.

Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lessened its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 39.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 244,271 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 160,914 shares during the quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.65% of MarketAxess worth $55,215,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Keybank National Association OH lifted its holdings in MarketAxess by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 8,149 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,842,000 after acquiring an additional 1,256 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in MarketAxess by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 363,224 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $82,103,000 after buying an additional 5,153 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth $539,000. Taika Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of MarketAxess in the fourth quarter worth $2,689,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the fourth quarter worth $46,079,000. 99.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MKTX. William Blair initiated coverage on MarketAxess in a report on Friday, April 4th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on MarketAxess from $223.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $241.78.

MarketAxess Stock Down 0.8%

MKTX traded down $1.72 on Wednesday, reaching $216.16. The company had a trading volume of 178,420 shares, compared to its average volume of 501,175. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $217.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $222.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.11 billion, a PE ratio of 29.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.89. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $186.84 and a 1 year high of $296.68.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $208.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.81 million. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. The firm's revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.92 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. MarketAxess's payout ratio is currently 52.87%.

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.