Short Interest in Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR) Drops By 15.3%

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 10,231,595 shares, a drop of 15.3% from the March 15th total of 12,075,322 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 5,143,916 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days. Currently, 0.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Interactive Brokers Group

In other news, Vice Chairman Earl H. Nemser sold 60,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.30, for a total transaction of $4,533,060.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last three months, insiders sold 400,000 shares of company stock worth $30,725,122. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Interactive Brokers Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of IBKR. Reflection Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Interactive Brokers Group in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Interactive Brokers Group in the third quarter worth $27,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Interactive Brokers Group by 64.3% in the fourth quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. now owns 455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the period. Tobam acquired a new stake in shares of Interactive Brokers Group in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Entrust Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Interactive Brokers Group in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 23.80% of the company’s stock.

Interactive Brokers Group Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of Interactive Brokers Group stock traded up $2.33 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $81.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,484,809 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,722,758. The firm has a market capitalization of $138.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.89, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.43. Interactive Brokers Group has a 1-year low of $38.10 and a 1-year high of $82.88.

Interactive Brokers Group (NASDAQ:IBKR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. Interactive Brokers Group had a return on equity of 5.12% and a net margin of 9.44%.Interactive Brokers Group’s revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Interactive Brokers Group will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Interactive Brokers Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. Interactive Brokers Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on IBKR. Barclays raised their price objective on Interactive Brokers Group from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Zacks Research lowered Interactive Brokers Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Interactive Brokers Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods began coverage on Interactive Brokers Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $75.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Interactive Brokers Group from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Interactive Brokers Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.00.

Interactive Brokers Group Company Profile

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc (NASDAQ: IBKR) is a global electronic brokerage holding company that provides trading, clearing and custody services to retail traders, institutional investors, proprietary trading groups and financial advisors. The firm offers direct access to a wide range of asset classes, including equities, options, futures, foreign exchange, bonds and exchange-traded funds across many international markets. Interactive Brokers emphasizes electronic order execution, automated trading and low transaction costs as core differentiators for its clients.

Its product suite centers on advanced trading platforms and infrastructure.