Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on Interactive Brokers Group (NASDAQ:IBKR)

Key Points

• Traders bought 14,808 put options on Interactive Brokers, about 124% above typical daily volume.
• IBKR shares fell 5.7% Thursday to $73.42. Director Lawrence Harris also sold 25,000 shares, reducing his position by 14.41%.
• The company reported quarterly EPS in line with estimates at $0.67 and revenue up 15.6% year over year; it raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share. Analysts’ consensus rating was Moderate Buy, with an average price target of $102.87.

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Traders bought 14,808 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 124% compared to the typical daily volume of 6,613 put options.

Insider Activity at Interactive Brokers Group

In other news, Director Lawrence Harris sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.61, for a total value of $2,065,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 148,482 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,266,098.02. The trade was a 14.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Interactive Brokers Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Interactive Brokers Group by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 3,968 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its position in Interactive Brokers Group by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 17,475 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,172,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Interactive Brokers Group by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,167 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $441,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Interactive Brokers Group by 62.2% in the third quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 524 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the period. Finally, Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Interactive Brokers Group by 0.4% in the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 57,807 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,938,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the period. 23.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Interactive Brokers Group Stock Down 5.7%

IBKR traded down $4.46 on Thursday, hitting $73.42. 3,732,824 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,716,477. Interactive Brokers Group has a 12-month low of $58.95 and a 12-month high of $98.75. The company has a 50 day moving average of $87.30 and a 200-day moving average of $82.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.93 billion, a PE ratio of 28.20, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.37.

Interactive Brokers Group (NASDAQ:IBKR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.67. The company had revenue of $1.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.86 billion. Interactive Brokers Group had a return on equity of 5.38% and a net margin of 10.03%. The company's revenue was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Interactive Brokers Group will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Interactive Brokers Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a boost from Interactive Brokers Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.0875. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 1st. Interactive Brokers Group's dividend payout ratio is 13.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IBKR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Interactive Brokers Group in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Interactive Brokers Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Interactive Brokers Group in a report on Friday, October 2nd. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. Barclays set a $117.00 price target on shares of Interactive Brokers Group and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $111.00 price target on shares of Interactive Brokers Group in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $102.87.

Interactive Brokers Group Company Profile

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc is a global electronic brokerage company that provides trading, investment and portfolio management services to individual investors, institutional clients, financial advisers, hedge funds, proprietary trading firms and introducing brokers. Through its subsidiaries, the company offers access to a broad range of markets and financial instruments, including stocks, options, futures, foreign exchange, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and certain digital assets.

Interactive Brokers provides its services through platforms such as Trader Workstation, IBKR Mobile and the Client Portal, as well as application programming interfaces for automated and institutional trading.

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