Freedom Investment Management Inc. Acquires New Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. $VIRT

Key Points

• Freedom Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Virtu Financial, buying 11,024 shares, valued at approximately $494,000.
• Virtu Financial has recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.24 per share, translating to an annual yield of 2.9%.
• Over 45.78% of Virtu Financial's stock is currently owned by institutional investors, indicating significant interest from hedge funds and investment groups.

Freedom Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 11,024 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $494,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ethic Inc. bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $502,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 12.9% during the 2nd quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 548,127 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $24,551,000 after acquiring an additional 62,570 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 29,748 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,332,000 after acquiring an additional 2,601 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $687,000. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,926,000. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Virtu Financial Trading Up 0.3%

VIRT stock opened at $33.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $5.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.70, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.62. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.51 and a 1-year high of $45.77. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.95.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, March 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $274.00 million during the quarter. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 32.08% and a net margin of 10.43%. Research analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 1st were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. Virtu Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VIRT. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Virtu Financial from $48.00 to $38.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Virtu Financial from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $45.00 price target (up from $40.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a research note on Monday, August 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $41.43.

Insider Activity at Virtu Financial

In other news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 90,701 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.40, for a total transaction of $3,845,722.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 47.20% of the company's stock.

About Virtu Financial

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.

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