Vontobel Holding Ltd. Invests $231,000 in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,071 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its stake 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 during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake 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 during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,993,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Virtu Financial by 180.0% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 948,590 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $33,846,000 after purchasing an additional 609,821 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Virtu Financial by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 930,110 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $35,856,000 after purchasing an additional 95,692 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 45.78% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on VIRT shares. Bank of America downgraded 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Virtu Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. UBS Group reissued 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. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.25.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Virtu Financial stock traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $43.94. 535,151 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,056,843. The company has a market cap of $6.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.70, 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 two-hundred day moving average of $38.95. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $22.66 and a 12-month high of $45.12.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $497.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $444.23 million. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 32.08%. Virtu Financial's revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. Virtu Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total value of $298,241.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 33,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,452,582.86. The trade was a 17.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 178,320 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.57, for a total value of $6,877,802.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 408,867 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,770,000.19. This trade represents a 30.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 362,846 shares of company stock valued at $14,079,615. Company insiders own 47.20% of the company's stock.

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.