Man Group plc grew its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) by 530.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 53,250 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 44,804 shares during the period. Man Group plc's holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $1,900,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $100,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC raised its position in Virtu Financial by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 8,074 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in Virtu Financial by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 14,826 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the period. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in Virtu Financial by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 19,635 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $701,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Virtu Financial by 172.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 870 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.78% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on VIRT shares. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $40.00 price objective (up from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of 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. One 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Virtu Financial presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.25.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Virtu Financial
Virtu Financial Price Performance
VIRT traded down $0.32 on Thursday, reaching $40.66. 154,350 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,183,888. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.55 and a twelve month high of $44.58. The stock has a market cap of $6.27 billion, a PE ratio of 13.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $39.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.59.
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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.31. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 27.39%. The company had revenue of $497.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $444.23 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. Virtu Financial's revenue was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.
Virtu Financial Announces Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. Virtu Financial's dividend payout ratio is presently 27.75%.
Insider Activity
In related news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 177,561 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.88, for a total value of $6,903,571.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 231,306 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,993,177.28. This trade represents a 43.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total transaction of $298,241.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 33,923 shares in the company, valued at $1,452,582.86. This trade represents a 17.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 362,846 shares of company stock valued at $14,079,615 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 46.70% of the company's stock.
About Virtu Financial
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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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