1834 Investment Advisors Co. Sells 57,497 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Key Points

• 1834 Investment Advisors Co. sold 57,497 shares of Virtu Financial, reducing its holdings by 20% to a total of 229,350 shares, which now represent about 1.1% of their portfolio.
• Other institutional investors have substantially increased their positions in Virtu Financial, with FMR LLC growing its stake by 28.2% and Allianz Asset Management increasing theirs by 69.5% in the recent quarters.
• Virtu Financial announced a quarterly dividend of $0.24, representing a dividend yield of 2.3%, with an ex-dividend date set for August 29th.

1834 Investment Advisors Co. reduced its position in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) by 20.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 229,350 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 57,497 shares during the period. Virtu Financial accounts for approximately 1.1% of 1834 Investment Advisors Co.'s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. owned 0.15% of Virtu Financial worth $8,743,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Management Professionals Inc. bought a new position in Virtu Financial in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Penserra Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the first quarter valued at approximately $54,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 26.0% during the first quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,670 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the first quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Finally, Wexford Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $203,000. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VIRT. Evercore ISI raised 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. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $45.00 price target (up previously from $40.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.75.

Insider Activity at Virtu Financial

In related news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 90,701 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.40, for a total value of $3,845,722.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total transaction of $298,241.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 33,923 shares in the company, valued at $1,452,582.86. This represents a 17.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 47.20% of the company's stock.

Virtu Financial Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of VIRT traded down $0.01 on Friday, hitting $42.44. 794,500 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 953,375. The company has a market capitalization of $6.54 billion, a PE ratio of 12.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.96. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a one year low of $28.14 and a one year high of $45.77.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 1st will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Virtu Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.82%.

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.