First Trust Advisors LP Has $15.26 Million Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) by 61.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 427,643 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 163,377 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.28% of Virtu Financial worth $15,258,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VIRT. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Virtu Financial by 1,358.7% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 329,738 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $11,765,000 after buying an additional 307,133 shares during the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP raised its stake in Virtu Financial by 115.1% in the 4th quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 115,699 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,128,000 after acquiring an additional 61,914 shares during the period. Chiron Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter worth $402,000. Portolan Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 35.1% in the fourth quarter. Portolan Capital Management LLC now owns 528,607 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $18,861,000 after purchasing an additional 137,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $316,000. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 157,703 shares in the company, valued at $5,899,669.23. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.84, for a total value of $2,688,104.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 90,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. This represents a 44.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 140,967 shares of company stock worth $5,213,964 over the last three months. Insiders own 46.70% of the company's stock.

Virtu Financial Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ VIRT opened at $38.36 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.92, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. The stock's fifty day moving average is $36.83 and its 200 day moving average is $36.22. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.38 and a 52 week 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.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on VIRT. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.88.

Virtu Financial 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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