Penserra Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Penserra Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $54,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 0.8% during the first quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 33,397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,273,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC grew its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 8,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 14,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 19,635 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $701,000 after buying an additional 426 shares during the period. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 36,016 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,285,000 after buying an additional 554 shares during the period. 45.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total transaction of $298,241.30. Following the sale, the director directly owned 33,923 shares in the company, valued at $1,452,582.86. This trade represents a 17.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 177,561 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.88, for a total transaction of $6,903,571.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 231,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,993,177.28. The trade was a 43.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 362,846 shares of company stock worth $14,079,615. 47.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Virtu Financial Trading Down 0.2%

VIRT opened at $43.94 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $42.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market cap of $6.78 billion, a PE ratio of 12.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.70. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $22.66 and a twelve month high of $45.12.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its 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 company had revenue of $497.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $444.23 million. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 32.08%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 27.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on VIRT shares. Bank of America lowered shares of Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.25.

About Virtu Financial

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.