GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) by 4,474.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 260,131 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 254,445 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC owned 0.17% of Virtu Financial worth $9,916,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted 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 valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Principal Securities Inc. raised its position in Virtu Financial by 439.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,361 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 1,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,794 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of research firms have weighed in on VIRT. 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. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered Virtu Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.25.
Read Our Latest Report on Virtu Financial
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Virtu Financial news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 178,320 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.57, for a total transaction of $6,877,802.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 408,867 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,770,000.19. The trade was a 30.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total value of $298,241.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 33,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,452,582.86. The trade was a 17.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 362,846 shares of company stock valued at $14,079,615 in the last three months. 47.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Virtu Financial Trading Down 1.1%
VIRT traded down $0.46 on Monday, hitting $41.39. The company had a trading volume of 492,656 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,177,708. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market cap of $6.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.94, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.68. The company's fifty day moving average price is $39.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.85. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.59 and a 1 year high of $44.58.
Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.31. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 27.39%. The firm had revenue of $497.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $444.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.
Virtu Financial Announces Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. Virtu Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.75%.
Virtu Financial Profile
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Free Report)
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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