Pullen Investment Management LLC Has $1.58 Million Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Pullen Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) by 39.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 44,133 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 28,495 shares during the period. Pullen Investment Management LLC's holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $1,575,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Virtu Financial by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 199,490 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $7,118,000 after buying an additional 21,503 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 124.2% during the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 15,618 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $557,000 after acquiring an additional 8,653 shares during the last quarter. Wexford Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter worth about $203,000. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its holdings in Virtu Financial by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 834,400 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $29,771,000 after purchasing an additional 73,304 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new position in Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter worth approximately $603,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VIRT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target 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. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Virtu Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" 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 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $37.25.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

VIRT traded down $0.36 during trading on Friday, reaching $40.02. The stock had a trading volume of 316,725 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,184,985. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $39.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.68. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1-year low of $21.55 and a 1-year high of $44.58.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.31. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 27.39% and a net margin of 9.61%. The business had revenue of $497.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $444.23 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Virtu Financial's dividend payout ratio is presently 27.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 178,320 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 408,867 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,770,000.19. This represents a 30.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 sale, the director now directly owns 33,923 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,452,582.86. This represents a 17.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 362,846 shares of company stock worth $14,079,615. Corporate 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.