Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Purchases New Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 21,313 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $760,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new position in Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Principal Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 439.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,361 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 1,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 42.9% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,864 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 860 shares during the period. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 157,703 shares in the company, valued at $5,899,669.23. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 90,749 shares of the company's stock, 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 140,967 shares of company stock valued at $5,213,964. Insiders own 46.70% of the company's stock.

Virtu Financial Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Virtu Financial stock traded down $0.08 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $36.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 662,899 shares, compared to its average volume of 974,163. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.55. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.72 and a 1-year high of $41.38. The company has a market cap of $5.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

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 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 analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.64%. Virtu Financial's payout ratio is 32.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of 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 boosted their price target on Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $31.36.

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.