Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) by 2.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 401,117 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 9,569 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.26% of Virtu Financial worth $15,291,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VIRT. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 28.2% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,375,783 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $227,488,000 after buying an additional 1,401,688 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $39,993,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 180.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 948,590 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $33,846,000 after buying an additional 609,821 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 48.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,448,866 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $51,696,000 after buying an additional 471,526 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $12,196,000. Institutional investors own 45.78% of the company's stock.

Virtu Financial Trading Down 1.3%

NASDAQ:VIRT traded down $0.58 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $44.22. The stock had a trading volume of 452,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,053,563. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a one year low of $22.66 and a one year high of $45.18. The company has a market capitalization of $6.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.78, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $42.17 and a 200 day moving average of $38.96. 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 (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last announced 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. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 32.08% and a net margin of 10.43%. The business had revenue of $497.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $444.23 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.17%. Virtu Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.75%.

Insider Transactions at Virtu Financial

In other news, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the director directly owned 33,923 shares in the company, valued at $1,452,582.86. This trade represents a 17.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 178,320 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.57, for a total value of $6,877,802.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 408,867 shares in the company, valued at $15,770,000.19. This trade represents a 30.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 47.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on VIRT shares. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Virtu Financial from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Bank of America downgraded Virtu Financial from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $43.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $40.00 target price (up previously from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a research note 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 given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Virtu Financial currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.13.

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.