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

Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 6,071 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 172.7% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 870 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the first quarter worth about $32,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Huntington National Bank raised its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 528.9% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 3,182 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $114,000 after acquiring an additional 2,676 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC raised its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 2,749.7% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 4,702 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $168,000 after acquiring an additional 4,537 shares during the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have 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 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. 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. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Virtu Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Virtu Financial presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $37.25.

Virtu Financial Trading Up 1.9%

VIRT stock traded up $0.81 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $43.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 162,189 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,051,974. The company has a market cap of $6.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.70. The business's 50 day moving average price is $42.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $22.11 and a 12 month high of $45.12.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $497.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $444.23 million. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 32.08% and a net margin of 10.43%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. Virtu Financial's dividend payout ratio is 27.75%.

Insider Activity at Virtu Financial

In other news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 177,561 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.88, for a total transaction of $6,903,571.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 231,306 shares in the company, valued at $8,993,177.28. The trade was a 43.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $298,241.30. Following the sale, the director owned 33,923 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,452,582.86. This represents a 17.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 362,846 shares of company stock valued at $14,079,615. Corporate insiders own 47.20% 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.