Albion Financial Group UT Acquires Shares of 1,250 Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 1,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $45,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Virtu Financial in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,081,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D purchased a new stake in Virtu Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,971,000. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Virtu Financial by 60.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 55,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,691,000 after acquiring an additional 20,843 shares in the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP increased its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 124.7% during the third quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 53,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,638,000 after acquiring an additional 29,844 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 48.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 358,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,907,000 after acquiring an additional 117,062 shares in the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of VIRT stock opened at $37.41 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $36.39 and its 200 day moving average is $32.32. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.02 and a 1-year high of $38.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $5.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.80, a PEG ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 0.45.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.03. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 7.29% and a return on equity of 23.22%. The business had revenue of $388.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $379.18 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.57%. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 48.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on VIRT shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on Virtu Financial from $32.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.21.

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.