D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Has $34.86 Million Stock Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lessened its position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) by 21.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 976,953 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 259,808 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.63% of Virtu Financial worth $34,858,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.84, for a total transaction of $2,688,104.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 90,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. This trade represents a 44.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total value of $1,253,920.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,703 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,070,006.64. This represents a 15.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 496,848 shares of company stock worth $18,995,338 over the last ninety days. 47.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Virtu Financial Price Performance

VIRT stock traded down $0.17 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $42.36. The company had a trading volume of 1,034,213 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,191,347. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.68. The business has a 50 day moving average of $38.01 and a 200 day moving average of $36.91. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.55 and a fifty-two week high of $44.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company earned $0.76 EPS. Virtu Financial's revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Virtu Financial's payout ratio is 27.75%.

Virtu Financial Company Profile

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.