Alliancebernstein L.P. Lowers Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lowered its stake in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 21.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 10,889 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $1,460,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 172.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on VIRT. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Virtu Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $26.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Virtu Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.21.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of VIRT stock opened at $38.46 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.88. The company has a market capitalization of $5.96 billion, a PE ratio of 12.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.35 and a twelve month high of $41.38. 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 (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.50%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,070,006.64. This trade represents a 15.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 90,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. This represents a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 140,967 shares of company stock worth $5,213,964 in the last three months. 46.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.