Raymond James & Associates Decreases Stock Holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Raymond James & Associates trimmed its position in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 220,150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,619 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $4,460,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Bangor Savings Bank lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 83,384 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,689,000 after buying an additional 3,358 shares during the last quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 913.6% during the fourth quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. now owns 306,289 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,205,000 after buying an additional 276,071 shares during the last quarter. Dfpg Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Dfpg Investments LLC now owns 43,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $884,000 after buying an additional 2,477 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the third quarter valued at about $1,134,000. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 3.2% during the third quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 358,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,187,000 after buying an additional 11,060 shares during the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on VIRT. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Virtu Financial in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Virtu Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $21.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Virtu Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.08.

Insider Transactions at Virtu Financial

In other news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu acquired 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $16.21 per share, with a total value of $810,500.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 584,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,468,779.72. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 44.80% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

VIRT opened at $20.15 on Friday. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.02 and a 12-month high of $21.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of 14.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $18.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.58.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.13). Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 6.22%. The business had revenue of $535.98 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $272.96 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 1.8 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.76%. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 68.57%.

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.