Marathon Asset Management Ltd Sells 47,411 Shares of Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. $IBKR

Key Points

• Marathon Asset Management reduced its stake in Interactive Brokers Group by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, selling 47,411 shares and leaving it with 477,442 shares valued at about $30.7 million.
• Several other institutional investors also increased or adjusted their positions, and institutions now own 23.80% of the company’s stock. Vanguard, Orbis Allan Gray, Bank of America, State Street, and TD Asset Management were among the notable buyers.
• Interactive Brokers recently topped earnings expectations with $0.60 EPS versus the $0.57 estimate and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.0875 per share. Analysts remain constructive overall, with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a target price of $83.25.

Marathon Asset Management Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR - Free Report) by 9.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 477,442 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 47,411 shares during the period. Marathon Asset Management Ltd's holdings in Interactive Brokers Group were worth $30,705,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Interactive Brokers Group by 26.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,859,085 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,637,234,000 after purchasing an additional 11,048,679 shares in the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Interactive Brokers Group by 178.8% in the 2nd quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 9,740,072 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $539,697,000 after purchasing an additional 6,246,715 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Interactive Brokers Group by 225.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,594,906 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $420,834,000 after purchasing an additional 5,260,923 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Interactive Brokers Group by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,648,758 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,283,221,000 after purchasing an additional 3,517,729 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Interactive Brokers Group by 2,098.6% in the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,300,711 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $158,312,000 after purchasing an additional 2,196,067 shares in the last quarter. 23.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on Interactive Brokers Group in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Interactive Brokers Group from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Interactive Brokers Group from $80.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Interactive Brokers Group from $91.00 to $81.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Interactive Brokers Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $83.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Lawrence E. Harris sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.93, for a total value of $2,000,180.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 173,482 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,345,970.26. This represents a 13.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Interactive Brokers Group Trading Down 3.1%

NASDAQ IBKR opened at $83.45 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $141.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.97, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.32. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.28. Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $49.15 and a 12 month high of $88.44.

Interactive Brokers Group (NASDAQ:IBKR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. Interactive Brokers Group had a return on equity of 5.19% and a net margin of 9.65%.Interactive Brokers Group's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.94 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. will post 2.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Interactive Brokers Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st will be given a $0.0875 dividend. This represents a $0.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This is an increase from Interactive Brokers Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Interactive Brokers Group's payout ratio is currently 13.79%.

Interactive Brokers Group 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.

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