First Trust Advisors LP Buys 350,401 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. $VIRT

First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 170.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 555,712 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 350,401 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.36% of Virtu Financial worth $24,890,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VIRT. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in Virtu Financial by 66.7% during the 2nd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 66,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,996,000 after acquiring an additional 26,756 shares in the last quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $417,000. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 117.6% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 191,879 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,176,000 after purchasing an additional 103,714 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 229,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,273,000 after purchasing an additional 2,634 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 132.8% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 51,612 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,966,000 after purchasing an additional 29,446 shares in the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America upgraded Virtu Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $48.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.71.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

Shares of VIRT stock opened at $35.76 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.49. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a one year low of $31.89 and a one year high of $45.77. The company’s 50-day moving average is $34.35 and its 200 day moving average is $38.83.

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

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.78%.

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.