CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Sells 11,600 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lowered its position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) by 12.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 81,823 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 11,600 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned approximately 0.05% of Virtu Financial worth $2,919,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 172.7% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 870 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new position in Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on VIRT shares. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America cut their price objective on Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up previously from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $37.88.

Virtu Financial Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ VIRT opened at $38.36 on Friday. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.38 and a 1 year high of $41.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $36.83 and a 200 day moving average of $36.19. The stock has a market cap of $5.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.32. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 27.39%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. Virtu Financial's payout ratio is 32.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In other news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.84, for a total transaction of $2,688,104.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 90,749 shares in the company, valued at $3,343,193.16. This trade represents a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.41, for a total transaction of $1,271,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 157,703 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,899,669.23. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 140,967 shares of company stock worth $5,213,964. 46.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Virtu Financial Company Profile

Virtu Financial, Inc operates as a financial services company in the United States, Asia Pacific, Canada, EMEA, Ireland, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Market Making and Execution Services. Its product includes offerings in execution, liquidity sourcing, analytics and broker-neutral, capital markets, and multi-dealer platforms in workflow technology.

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