Park Avenue Securities LLC Invests $218,000 in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Park Avenue Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,713 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new stake in Virtu Financial in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. HBW Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 103.2% during the first quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $618,000 after buying an additional 8,227 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. raised its position in Virtu Financial by 101,925.0% in the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 8,162 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $311,000 after purchasing an additional 8,154 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 4,474.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 260,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,916,000 after buying an additional 254,445 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $954,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Trading Up 1.9%

NASDAQ VIRT opened at $41.92 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $40.15 and its 200 day moving average is $38.02. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.59 and a twelve month high of $44.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.46 billion, a PE ratio of 14.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.68.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $497.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $444.23 million. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 27.39% and a net margin of 9.61%. The company’s revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is presently 27.75%.

Insider Activity at Virtu Financial

In other Virtu Financial news, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total value of $298,241.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 33,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,452,582.86. This trade represents a 17.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 178,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 408,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,770,000.19. The trade was a 30.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 362,846 shares of company stock valued at $14,079,615. Insiders own 47.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VIRT. Bank of America lowered Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $43.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen cut Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.25.

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.