DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Increases Stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) by 15.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 72,229 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,522 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale's holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $2,684,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Penserra Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the first quarter valued at about $54,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 3,319.6% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 10,635 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $405,000 after acquiring an additional 10,324 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the 1st quarter worth approximately $231,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 401,117 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $15,291,000 after acquiring an additional 9,569 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $954,000. 45.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 177,561 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 231,306 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,993,177.28. This represents a 43.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total value of $298,241.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 362,846 shares of company stock valued at $14,079,615. 46.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on VIRT. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up previously from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $48.00 price target (up from $44.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.13.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Virtu Financial stock traded up $0.46 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $44.63. 618,530 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 958,091. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.73 and a 1 year high of $45.18. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.90, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.31. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 32.08%. The business had revenue of $497.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $444.23 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. Virtu Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.