Hedge Funds Are Bearish On Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (IBKR)

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR) investors should pay attention to a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money in recent months.

At the moment, there are dozens of metrics market participants can use to track their holdings. Two of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite fund managers can outclass the broader indices by a solid margin (see just how much).

Just as key, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the world of equities. As the old adage goes: there are lots of stimuli for an executive to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if you understand what to do (learn more here).

Consequently, let’s take a look at the key action surrounding Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR).

How have hedgies been trading Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 13 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Ancient Art (Teton Capital), managed by Quincy Lee, holds the largest position in Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR). Ancient Art (Teton Capital) has a $33.5 million position in the stock, comprising 8.7% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group, with a $24.3 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other peers that are bullish include David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.

Judging by the fact that Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR) has faced a declination in interest from the smart money, it’s safe to say that there were a few money managers who were dropping their positions entirely in Q1. It’s worth mentioning that Andy Redleaf’s Whitebox Advisors cut the biggest stake of the 450+ funds we watch, comprising about $1.6 million in stock., and Matthew Tewksbury of Stevens Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $0.4 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

What have insiders been doing with Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time period, Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 3 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR). These stocks are GFI Group Inc. (NYSE:GFIG), Medley Capital Corp (NYSE:MCC), FXCM Inc (NYSE:FXCM), Piper Jaffray Companies (NYSE:PJC), and BGC Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:BGCP). All of these stocks are in the investment brokerage – national industry and their market caps match IBKR’s market cap.