Chiron Investment Management LLC Acquires New Shares in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Chiron Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 11,260 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $402,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in Virtu Financial by 28.2% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,375,783 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $227,488,000 after purchasing an additional 1,401,688 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,031,630 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $36,809,000 after acquiring an additional 52,800 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Virtu Financial by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 948,590 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $33,846,000 after acquiring an additional 609,821 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Virtu Financial by 28.3% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 834,418 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $30,027,000 after acquiring an additional 183,823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 802,391 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $28,629,000 after purchasing an additional 82,396 shares during the period. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VIRT. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered Virtu Financial from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $26.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Virtu Financial presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $32.21.

Insider Activity at Virtu Financial

In related news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total value of $1,253,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,703 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,070,006.64. This trade represents a 15.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.84, for a total value of $2,688,104.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 90,749 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. This represents a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 140,967 shares of company stock valued at $5,213,964 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 46.70% of the company's stock.

Virtu Financial Stock Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ:VIRT traded up $0.66 on Friday, reaching $38.46. The stock had a trading volume of 1,170,164 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,192,250. The company has a 50-day moving average of $36.69 and a 200 day moving average of $35.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.44 and a 12-month high of $41.38.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.32. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 27.39% and a net margin of 9.61%. On average, research analysts predict that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.50%. Virtu Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.32%.

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.