Cetera Investment Advisers Has $635,000 Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Cetera Investment Advisers trimmed its stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,806 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 789 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $635,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of VIRT. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in Virtu Financial by 172.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 439.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 1,923 shares in the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on VIRT. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Bank of America lowered Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $43.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Virtu Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.25.

Insider Transactions at Virtu Financial

In related news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 178,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.57, for a total value of $6,877,802.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 408,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,770,000.19. This represents a 30.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total transaction of $298,241.30. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 33,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,452,582.86. This trade represents a 17.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 362,846 shares of company stock valued at $14,079,615. Corporate insiders own 47.20% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:VIRT opened at $40.75 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $38.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.50. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12-month low of $21.55 and a 12-month high of $44.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.68. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.31. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 27.39% and a net margin of 9.61%. The company had revenue of $497.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $444.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. Virtu Financial’s revenue was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.75%.

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.