SG Americas Securities LLC Sells 53,478 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

SG Americas Securities LLC cut its holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 88.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,258 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 53,478 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $147,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VIRT. Farther Finance Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Virtu Financial in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 123.8% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 883 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 236.4% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 8,400.0% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,680 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 42.7% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 3,176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 950 shares in the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Virtu Financial Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ VIRT opened at $20.58 on Wednesday. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.02 and a 1 year high of $21.58. The stock has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $18.92 and a 200 day moving average of $18.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.46.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last issued 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 net margin of 6.22% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The business had revenue of $535.98 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $272.96 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.66%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VIRT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Citigroup raised 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. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Virtu Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Four 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 company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu acquired 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $16.21 per share, with a total value of $810,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 584,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,468,779.72. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 44.80% of the company’s stock.

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.