FIL Ltd Has $19.36 Million Stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

FIL Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 542,535 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 22,644 shares during the quarter. FIL Ltd owned about 0.35% of Virtu Financial worth $19,358,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 172.7% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 870 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 551 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.78% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In other news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.41, for a total value of $1,271,940.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 157,703 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,899,669.23. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the business'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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 90,749 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,343,193.16. The trade was a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 140,967 shares of company stock worth $5,213,964 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 46.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on VIRT shares. Morgan Stanley downgraded Virtu Financial from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $26.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $32.21.

Virtu Financial Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VIRT traded up $0.94 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $38.74. The stock had a trading volume of 536,539 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,185,264. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.35 and a 12-month high of $41.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $6.00 billion, a PE ratio of 13.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. The company's 50 day moving average is $36.67 and its 200-day moving average is $35.82.

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

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Virtu Financial's payout ratio is 32.32%.

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.