Credit Agricole S A Buys 19,346 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. $VIRT

Key Points

• Credit Agricole S A increased its stake in Virtu Financial by 48.6%, now owning 59,179 shares worth approximately $2.26 million.
• Several equities analysts have downgraded Virtu Financial's rating, with Bank of America moving it from "buy" to "neutral" and Morgan Stanley setting a price target of $35.00.
• Virtu Financial announced a quarterly dividend of $0.24, representing an annualized yield of 2.3%, to be paid on September 15th.

Credit Agricole S A boosted its holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) by 48.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 59,179 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 19,346 shares during the quarter. Credit Agricole S A's holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $2,256,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Penserra Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the first quarter worth approximately $54,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the first quarter worth approximately $231,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 3,319.6% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 10,635 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $405,000 after buying an additional 10,324 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 2.4% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 401,117 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $15,291,000 after buying an additional 9,569 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 92.3% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 107,761 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,108,000 after buying an additional 51,713 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.78% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Bank of America cut shares of Virtu Financial from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $43.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, May 15th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $45.00 target price (up previously from $40.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Virtu Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Virtu Financial currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In other Virtu Financial news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 90,701 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.40, for a total transaction of $3,845,722.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 47.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Virtu Financial Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:VIRT traded down $0.31 on Thursday, reaching $42.42. 438,633 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 940,295. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.69. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $29.82 and a 52 week high of $45.77. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $43.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.19.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 1st will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Virtu Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.82%.

Virtu Financial 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.