Balyasny Asset Management L.P. Buys Shares of 1,120,889 Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,120,889 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $39,993,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. owned about 0.72% of Virtu Financial as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Virtu Financial by 60.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 55,486 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,691,000 after purchasing an additional 20,843 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 65.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 247,969 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $8,109,000 after buying an additional 97,697 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 48.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 358,065 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $10,907,000 after buying an additional 117,062 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Virtu Financial by 135.9% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,686 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $203,000 after buying an additional 3,276 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co acquired a new stake in Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $380,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.78% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VIRT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up previously from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $37.88.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ:VIRT traded up $0.67 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $43.15. 910,969 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,189,387. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The company has a market capitalization of $6.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.68. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.55 and a 12 month high of $43.45. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $37.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.72.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $497.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $444.23 million. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 27.39% and a net margin of 9.61%. The company's revenue was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. Virtu Financial's payout ratio is presently 27.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In other news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 178,320 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 408,867 shares in the company, valued at $15,770,000.19. The trade was a 30.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.41, for a total transaction of $1,271,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 157,703 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,899,669.23. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 496,848 shares of company stock valued at $18,995,338. 47.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.