Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Lowers Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 56.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,972 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 31,743 shares during the quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $761,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in Virtu Financial during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Virtu Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $39,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Virtu Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at $46,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in Virtu Financial by 21.0% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,143 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the period. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Virtu Financial by 55.3% in the first quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares during the period. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VIRT shares. Bank of America lowered their target price on Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of Virtu Financial in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $32.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.50.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

VIRT opened at $34.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.02 and a 1-year high of $36.98. The company has a 50-day moving average of $32.17 and a 200-day moving average of $27.73. The company has a market capitalization of $5.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.55, a PEG ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 0.38.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $388.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $379.18 million. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 23.22% and a net margin of 7.29%. Virtu Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.24%.

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.