Ethic Inc. Makes New $502,000 Investment in Virtu Financial, Inc. $VIRT

Ethic Inc. acquired a new position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 11,312 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $502,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VIRT. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Virtu Financial by 83.6% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,473,165 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,157,000 after acquiring an additional 670,774 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the 1st quarter worth approximately $18,956,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Virtu Financial by 50.9% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,320,356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,764,000 after buying an additional 445,586 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 69.5% in the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,063,011 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,522,000 after purchasing an additional 435,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Virtu Financial during the first quarter valued at $9,918,000. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Virtu Financial

In other Virtu Financial news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 90,701 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.40, for a total value of $3,845,722.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 47.20% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of VIRT opened at $34.57 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.28 billion, a PE ratio of 9.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.62. The company’s fifty day moving average is $36.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.96. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.51 and a fifty-two week high of $45.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, March 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $274.00 million for the quarter. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 32.08%. Analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on VIRT. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (up from $40.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Bank of America raised shares of Virtu Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $48.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Virtu Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.71.

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.