Victory Capital Management Inc. Raises Holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Key Points

• Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Virtu Financial by 92.3% in Q1, owning 107,761 shares valued at approximately $4.1 million.
• Virtu Financial announced a quarterly dividend of $0.24 per share, representing an annualized payout of $0.96 and a yield of 2.17%.
• Several analysts have revised their price targets for Virtu Financial, with the average target now at $39.13 amid mixed ratings ranging from "sell" to "buy."

Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) by 92.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 107,761 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 51,713 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 0.07% of Virtu Financial worth $4,108,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VIRT. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 28.2% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,375,783 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $227,488,000 after purchasing an additional 1,401,688 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter worth $39,993,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 948,590 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $33,846,000 after purchasing an additional 609,821 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 48.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,448,866 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $51,696,000 after purchasing an additional 471,526 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter worth $12,018,000. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Virtu Financial

In other Virtu Financial news, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total value of $298,241.30. Following the transaction, the director owned 33,923 shares in the company, valued at $1,452,582.86. The trade was a 17.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 47.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on VIRT shares. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $40.00 target price (up from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Virtu Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.13.

Virtu Financial Stock Up 0.2%

VIRT traded up $0.10 on Thursday, hitting $44.89. The company had a trading volume of 131,728 shares, compared to its average volume of 952,007. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $42.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.64. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.50 and a 12-month high of $45.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.70.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.64. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 32.08% and a net margin of 10.43%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. Analysts predict that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 1st will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. Virtu Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.82%.

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.