Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Interactive Brokers Group Call Options (NASDAQ:IBKR)

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 3,850 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 55% compared to the average daily volume of 2,476 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Interactive Brokers Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC increased its stake in Interactive Brokers Group by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC now owns 7,187 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,270,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Interactive Brokers Group by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 28,995 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,123,000 after purchasing an additional 2,752 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Interactive Brokers Group by 34.7% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 147,048 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,979,000 after buying an additional 37,890 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in Interactive Brokers Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,750,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Interactive Brokers Group by 90.7% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 23.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IBKR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price target on Interactive Brokers Group from $180.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group increased their price target on Interactive Brokers Group from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Interactive Brokers Group from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Interactive Brokers Group from $152.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Interactive Brokers Group from $171.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.25.

Interactive Brokers Group Trading Up 8.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ IBKR opened at $209.78 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.64 billion, a PE ratio of 32.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.87. Interactive Brokers Group has a 12-month low of $88.22 and a 12-month high of $211.14. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $184.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $151.85.

Interactive Brokers Group (NASDAQ:IBKR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81 by $0.22. Interactive Brokers Group had a net margin of 7.89% and a return on equity of 4.83%. The firm had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1,372,590.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Interactive Brokers Group will post 6.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Interactive Brokers Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Interactive Brokers Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.27%.

Interactive Brokers Group Company Profile

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc operates as an automated electronic broker worldwide. The company engages in the execution, clearance, and settlement of trades in stocks, options, futures, foreign exchange instruments, bonds, mutual funds, exchange traded funds (ETFs), precious metals, and cryptocurrencies.