Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. Invests $393,000 in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 10,867 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $393,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in VIRT. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 172.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 870 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.78% of the company's stock.

Virtu Financial Stock Up 3.4 %

VIRT traded up $1.34 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $41.16. 935,278 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,188,137. The stock has a market cap of $6.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.86, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.68. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1-year low of $21.55 and a 1-year high of $41.38. The stock's 50-day moving average is $37.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.31. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 27.39%. The company had revenue of $497.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $444.23 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Virtu Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Transactions at Virtu Financial

In other news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 178,320 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 now directly owns 408,867 shares in the company, valued at $15,770,000.19. The trade was a 30.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total transaction of $1,253,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,703 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,070,006.64. The trade was a 15.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 496,848 shares of company stock worth $18,995,338 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 46.70% of the company's stock.

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.