Renaissance Technologies LLC Trims Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Renaissance Technologies LLC cut its position in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,780,818 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 112,705 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned approximately 2.45% of Virtu Financial worth $134,900,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,794 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the period. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 30,132 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,075,000 after buying an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in Virtu Financial by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 14,826 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $516,000 after buying an additional 392 shares during the period. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Virtu Financial by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 19,635 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $701,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HBW Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,974 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $285,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the period. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.84, for a total value of $2,688,104.28. Following the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.41, for a total value of $1,271,940.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 157,703 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,899,669.23. This represents a 17.74 % 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 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 46.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VIRT. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley cut Virtu Financial from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $26.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Virtu Financial currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $32.21.

Virtu Financial Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of Virtu Financial stock traded up $1.04 on Monday, reaching $38.07. The stock had a trading volume of 293,964 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,180,983. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $36.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.74. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.30 and a 1 year high of $41.38.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Virtu Financial's payout ratio is currently 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.