Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Acquires 45,087 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. $VIRT

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 240.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 63,836 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 45,087 shares during the period. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $2,266,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,999,628 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $354,987,000 after purchasing an additional 142,890 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 23.2% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,183,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,373,000 after buying an additional 222,862 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 4.2% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 913,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,910,000 after buying an additional 36,640 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 21.1% during the second quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 594,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,644,000 after acquiring an additional 103,528 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 170.7% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 555,712 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,890,000 after acquiring an additional 350,401 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VIRT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Virtu Financial from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.00.

Virtu Financial Trading Down 1.5%

VIRT opened at $41.01 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $37.35 and a 200 day moving average of $36.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.55 and a 12 month high of $45.77. The firm has a market cap of $6.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.61.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.73. The business had revenue of $969.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $513.51 million. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 32.08% and a net margin of 10.43%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.14 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 18.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In other Virtu Financial news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 28,370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.94, for a total transaction of $1,104,727.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 116,191 shares in the company, valued at $4,524,477.54. The trade was a 19.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Joseph Molluso sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.88, for a total value of $7,776,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 326,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,697,624.80. This represents a 37.98% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 270,000 shares of company stock worth $10,458,644. Insiders own 47.20% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Profile

Virtu Financial, Inc (NASDAQ: VIRT) is a leading global electronic trading firm specializing in market making, liquidity provision and trade execution services across a broad range of asset classes. Leveraging advanced quantitative models and proprietary trading technology, Virtu provides continuous bid and ask quotes in equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, commodities and digital assets. The firm’s infrastructure is designed to operate at high speeds and low latencies, enabling tight spreads and efficient price discovery for its clients.

In addition to its market-making activities, Virtu offers agency execution services, algorithmic trading strategies and transaction cost analysis tools.