GLOBALT Investments LLC GA Takes Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 95,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,416,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VIRT. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Virtu Financial by 38.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,974,095 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $151,511,000 after buying an additional 1,368,419 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Virtu Financial by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,031,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,809,000 after buying an additional 52,800 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Virtu Financial by 28.3% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 834,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,027,000 after buying an additional 183,823 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Virtu Financial by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 391,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,970,000 after buying an additional 5,371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Portolan Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Virtu Financial during the third quarter worth about $11,918,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VIRT. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock 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 assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.36.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

VIRT stock opened at $35.71 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $37.10 and a 200-day moving average of $34.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $19.06 and a 12 month high of $41.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.57.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 27.39%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.32%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were 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 $3,343,193.16. This trade represents a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total transaction of $1,253,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,703 shares in the company, valued at $7,070,006.64. This represents a 15.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 140,967 shares of company stock worth $5,213,964. 46.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.