Ameriprise Financial Inc. Trims Stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. decreased its holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 320,122 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 14,225 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned 0.21% of Virtu Financial worth $11,422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 28.2% in 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 last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 48.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,448,866 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $51,696,000 after buying an additional 471,526 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Virtu Financial by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,031,630 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $36,809,000 after buying an additional 52,800 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Virtu Financial by 180.0% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 948,590 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $33,846,000 after buying an additional 609,821 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Virtu Financial by 32.2% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 874,770 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $31,212,000 after buying an additional 213,013 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.78% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Virtu Financial news, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total transaction of $298,241.30. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 33,923 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,452,582.86. This represents a 17.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 177,561 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.88, for a total transaction of $6,903,571.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 231,306 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,993,177.28. The trade was a 43.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 362,846 shares of company stock valued at $14,079,615. 47.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VIRT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America downgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $43.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, May 15th. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $40.00 price target (up from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective 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, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Virtu Financial currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.25.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Virtu Financial stock traded down $0.53 on Thursday, reaching $40.98. 529,778 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,187,479. The company has a 50 day moving average of $38.77 and a 200 day moving average of $37.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.46. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.55 and a 52 week high of $44.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.32 billion, a PE ratio of 13.80, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.68.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.31. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 27.39% and a net margin of 9.61%. The business had revenue of $497.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $444.23 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. Virtu Financial's revenue for the quarter was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. 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.