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

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

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,401,688 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 48.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,448,866 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $51,696,000 after buying an additional 471,526 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,993,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 180.0% in the fourth 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 boosted its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 11.5% in the first 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. 45.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Virtu Financial Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of VIRT stock traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $43.94. 535,151 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,055,458. The stock's 50 day moving average is $42.17 and its 200-day moving average is $38.93. The company has a market cap of $6.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.70. 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 fifty-two week low of $22.50 and a fifty-two week high of $45.12.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $497.14 million for 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. Virtu Financial's payout ratio is 27.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In related news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 178,320 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 408,867 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,770,000.19. This represents a 30.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 33,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,452,582.86. The trade was a 17.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 362,846 shares of company stock worth $14,079,615. 47.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $43.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up previously from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Virtu Financial presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $37.25.

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.