Peregrine Capital Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Peregrine Capital Management LLC cut its position in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) by 8.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 267,564 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 24,078 shares during the quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.17% of Virtu Financial worth $9,547,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new stake in Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 439.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,361 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 1,923 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 42.9% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,864 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 860 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,794 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares during the period. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $5,899,669.23. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 90,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. The trade was 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 worth $5,213,964 in the last quarter. 46.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Virtu Financial Trading Down 4.5 %

NASDAQ VIRT traded down $1.66 on Friday, hitting $35.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,184,443 shares, compared to its average volume of 962,419. The firm has a market cap of $5.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.92, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.46. 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 company's 50-day simple moving average is $37.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.18. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.62 and a 52-week high of $41.38.

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 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 predict 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 will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Virtu Financial's payout ratio is presently 32.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on VIRT shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $31.36.

About Virtu Financial

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.