Marshall Wace LLP Purchases 307,133 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) by 1,358.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 329,738 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 307,133 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP owned about 0.21% of Virtu Financial worth $11,765,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bridgewater Associates LP increased its stake in Virtu Financial by 115.1% during the fourth 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 stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $402,000. Portolan Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 35.1% during 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 period. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $316,000. Finally, Mariner LLC lifted its position in Virtu Financial by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 8,074 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 45.78% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Virtu Financial news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total transaction of $1,253,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,703 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,070,006.64. The trade was a 15.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 90,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. This trade represents a 44.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 140,967 shares of company stock valued at $5,213,964 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 46.70% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VIRT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.88.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of Virtu Financial stock traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $38.36. The company had a trading volume of 1,793,116 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,188,311. The company has a market capitalization of $5.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.16. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1-year low of $21.38 and a 1-year high of $41.38.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 27.39% and a net margin of 9.61%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

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

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.