Sparta 24 Ltd. Makes New $939,000 Investment in Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. $IBKR

Key Points

• Sparta 24 Ltd. initiated a new position in Interactive Brokers Group, buying 14,000 shares valued at about $939,000 in the first quarter. The stock now makes up roughly 1.1% of the firm’s holdings.
• Multiple large institutional investors also increased their stakes, and hedge funds/institutions now own 23.80% of Interactive Brokers’ shares. This suggests continued professional interest in the stock.
• Analysts have turned more bullish, with several firms raising price targets and the consensus rating sitting at Moderate Buy with an average target price of $93.89. The company also recently topped earnings estimates and raised its quarterly dividend.

Sparta 24 Ltd. purchased a new position in Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 14,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $939,000. Interactive Brokers Group comprises about 1.1% of Sparta 24 Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in IBKR. State Street Corp grew its position in Interactive Brokers Group by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,836,521 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,211,377,000 after acquiring an additional 187,763 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC raised its position in Interactive Brokers Group by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 12,759,904 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $820,589,000 after purchasing an additional 95,878 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Interactive Brokers Group by 17.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,901,171 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $750,110,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630,620 shares in the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lifted its stake in Interactive Brokers Group by 178.8% during the second 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Interactive Brokers Group by 44.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,288,379 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $533,026,000 after purchasing an additional 2,534,772 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 23.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on IBKR. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Interactive Brokers Group in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $101.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler set a $105.00 target price on Interactive Brokers Group and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America upped their target price on Interactive Brokers Group from $83.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Interactive Brokers Group from $93.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Interactive Brokers Group from $80.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $93.89.

Interactive Brokers Group Price Performance

IBKR opened at $90.53 on Friday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $89.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.48. Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $58.95 and a 1 year high of $97.84. The firm has a market cap of $153.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.02, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.33.

Interactive Brokers Group (NASDAQ:IBKR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. Interactive Brokers Group had a return on equity of 5.19% and a net margin of 9.65%.The business's revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Interactive Brokers Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a $0.0875 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This is a positive change from Interactive Brokers Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.35 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Interactive Brokers Group's payout ratio is presently 15.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Lawrence E. Harris sold 26,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 173,482 shares in the company, valued at $13,345,970.26. This represents a 13.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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