Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Trims Stock Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lowered its holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) by 71.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 49,796 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 126,642 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC's holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $1,898,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VIRT. Pullen Investment Management LLC increased its position in Virtu Financial by 1.8% during the first quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 44,922 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,712,000 after acquiring an additional 789 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,348,000. Ibex Wealth Advisors lifted its position in Virtu Financial by 1.2% in the first quarter. Ibex Wealth Advisors now owns 186,782 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $7,120,000 after buying an additional 2,289 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt bought a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the 1st quarter worth about $1,704,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $260,000 after acquiring an additional 1,138 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VIRT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target 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. Bank of America lowered Virtu Financial from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $43.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered Virtu Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective 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, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Virtu Financial currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $37.25.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of Virtu Financial stock traded down $0.21 on Friday, reaching $42.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 952,025 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,077,844. The company has a market capitalization of $6.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.27, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $21.59 and a 52-week high of $44.58.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $497.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $444.23 million. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 32.08% and a net margin of 10.43%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. Analysts expect that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Virtu Financial's payout ratio is currently 27.75%.

Insider Transactions at Virtu Financial

In other Virtu Financial news, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction dated 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 now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 178,320 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.57, for a total value of $6,877,802.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 408,867 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,770,000.19. The trade was a 30.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 362,846 shares of company stock worth $14,079,615 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 46.70% of the company's stock.

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.