Nuveen Asset Management LLC Reduces Stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 508,312 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 9,337 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.33% of Virtu Financial worth $18,137,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake 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 in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Virtu Financial by 439.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,361 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 1,923 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.78% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note 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 on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.25.

Virtu Financial Trading Down 0.8%

VIRT stock traded down $0.34 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $40.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 154,350 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,183,885. The company has a market cap of $6.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.68. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.55 and a 12 month high of $44.58. The business's 50 day moving average price is $39.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $497.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $444.23 million. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 27.39% and a net margin of 9.61%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict 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 will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Virtu Financial's payout ratio is 27.75%.

Insider Activity at Virtu Financial

In related news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 178,320 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 408,867 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,770,000.19. The trade was a 30.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total value of $298,241.30. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 33,923 shares in the company, valued at $1,452,582.86. This represents a 17.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 362,846 shares of company stock valued at $14,079,615 over the last 90 days. 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.