6,733 Shares in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) Purchased by Brucke Financial Inc.

Brucke Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,733 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $240,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VIRT. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Virtu Financial by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,794 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $100,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC lifted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 8,074 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 324 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 14,826 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $516,000 after acquiring an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 19,635 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $701,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in Virtu Financial by 172.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 870 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the period. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Virtu Financial

In other Virtu Financial news, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of the business'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 transaction, the director now owns 33,923 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,452,582.86. The trade was a 17.03% decrease in their position. 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 the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.88, for a total value of $6,903,571.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 231,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,993,177.28. This represents a 43.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 362,846 shares of company stock worth $14,079,615. 46.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Virtu Financial Trading Down 0.8%

VIRT traded down $0.31 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $40.98. The stock had a trading volume of 685,357 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,187,947. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $39.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.80, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 $44.58. 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 (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 last year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. Virtu Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.75%.

Virtu Financial 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.