Two Sigma Advisers LP Sells 12,400 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Two Sigma Advisers LP decreased its stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 464,600 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 12,400 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP owned 0.30% of Virtu Financial worth $16,577,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 172.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 870 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors own 45.78% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Virtu Financial news, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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. The trade was a 17.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 178,320 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The shares were 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 approximately $15,770,000.19. This represents a 30.37% 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 47.20% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VIRT shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target 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. lifted their price target on Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $40.00 price objective (up from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised 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 report on Thursday, April 24th. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $37.25.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VIRT traded up $0.58 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $41.33. The company's stock had a trading volume of 179,696 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,001,204. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 1.13. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.55 and a fifty-two week high of $44.58. The business's 50 day moving average price is $39.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.54. The company has a market cap of $6.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.68.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $444.23 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Virtu Financial's payout ratio is 27.75%.

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.