Bank of New York Mellon Corp Decreases Stock Holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp trimmed its holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 5.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 766,465 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 43,326 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.49% of Virtu Financial worth $29,218,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Virtu Financial by 28.2% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,375,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $227,488,000 after purchasing an additional 1,401,688 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,993,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 180.0% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 948,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,846,000 after purchasing an additional 609,821 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 48.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,448,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,696,000 after purchasing an additional 471,526 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter worth $12,196,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 178,320 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.57, for a total transaction of $6,877,802.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 408,867 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,770,000.19. The trade was a 30.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of Virtu Financial 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 transaction, the director owned 33,923 shares in the company, valued at $1,452,582.86. The trade was a 17.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 362,846 shares of company stock worth $14,079,615. 46.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Virtu Financial Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of VIRT opened at $44.63 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.10. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.73 and a 1-year high of $45.18. The stock has a market cap of $6.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.70.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.30 EPS 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 net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 32.08%. Virtu Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VIRT. Bank of America cut shares of Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $43.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price target (up from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Virtu Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.13.

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.