New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Invests $432,000 in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 12,101 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $432,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VIRT. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,794 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $100,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the period. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. increased its position in Virtu Financial by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 30,132 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,075,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the period. HBW Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,974 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 172.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 870 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Institutional investors own 45.78% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VIRT. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $33.21.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of Virtu Financial stock traded down $2.30 on Friday, hitting $35.10. The company had a trading volume of 1,208,609 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,170,075. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.15 and a 52 week 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 company has a market cap of $5.44 billion, a PE ratio of 11.82, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.58.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.32. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 27.39% and a net margin of 9.61%. Research analysts expect that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. Virtu Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 32.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were 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 directly owns 90,749 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,343,193.16. This represents a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 157,703 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,899,669.23. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 140,967 shares of company stock valued at $5,213,964 over the last three months. Company insiders own 46.70% of the company's stock.

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.