Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Sells 327,293 Shares of Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. $IBKR

Key Points

• Pictet Asset Management sold 327,293 shares of Interactive Brokers (IBKR) in Q4, cutting its position by 55.3% to 264,304 shares worth about $17.01 million.
• Interactive Brokers beat EPS estimates ($0.60 vs. $0.57) with revenue up 17% year-over-year (slightly below consensus) and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.0875 ($0.35 annual, ~0.4% yield).
• The stock has a "Moderate Buy" analyst consensus with an average target of $83.25 and is trading around $80.46, near its 52-week high of $82.88.

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lowered its position in shares of Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR - Free Report) by 55.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 264,304 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 327,293 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA's holdings in Interactive Brokers Group were worth $17,006,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Interactive Brokers Group by 26.4% during 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 raised its position in shares of Interactive Brokers Group by 178.8% in the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 9,740,072 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $539,697,000 after buying an additional 6,246,715 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Interactive Brokers Group by 225.4% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,594,906 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $420,834,000 after buying an additional 5,260,923 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Interactive Brokers Group by 23.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,648,758 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,283,221,000 after buying an additional 3,517,729 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in Interactive Brokers Group by 2,098.6% during the third quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,300,711 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $158,312,000 after buying an additional 2,196,067 shares in the last quarter. 23.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Interactive Brokers Group from $80.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Zacks Research lowered Interactive Brokers Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Interactive Brokers Group from $91.00 to $81.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $98.00 price objective on shares of Interactive Brokers Group in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Interactive Brokers Group from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $83.25.

Interactive Brokers Group Price Performance

NASDAQ IBKR opened at $80.46 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $71.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.49 billion, a PE ratio of 34.68, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.32. Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $43.78 and a fifty-two week high of $82.88.

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

Interactive Brokers Group Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Interactive Brokers Group

In related news, Director Lawrence E. Harris sold 26,000 shares of Interactive Brokers Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.93, for a total transaction of $2,000,180.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 173,482 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,345,970.26. The trade was a 13.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

About Interactive Brokers Group

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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