Insider Selling: Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT) COO Sells 30,000 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Virtu Financial COO Brett Fairclough sold 30,000 shares on May 8 at an average price of $50.06, totaling about $1.5 million. The sale cut his direct ownership by 41.39% to 42,473 shares.
• The company recently posted stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with earnings of $2.24 per share versus analyst estimates of $1.66 and revenue of $786.53 million, up 30.7% year over year.
• Virtu Financial also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.24 per share, payable June 15, which works out to an annualized yield of 1.9%.

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VIRT - Get Free Report) COO Brett Fairclough sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.06, for a total transaction of $1,501,800.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 42,473 shares in the company, valued at $2,126,198.38. This trade represents a 41.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VIRT traded up $1.75 on Friday, reaching $51.29. 1,655,273 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,355,980. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.49, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.62. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.55 and a fifty-two week high of $52.21. The business's 50-day moving average is $45.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $786.53 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $613.12 million. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 14.17% and a return on equity of 51.63%. The firm's revenue was up 30.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. Virtu Financial's dividend payout ratio is 15.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on VIRT shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Virtu Financial from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 11th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $44.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $48.67.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Virtu Financial by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,920,590 shares of the company's stock valued at $84,458,000 after buying an additional 19,888 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its position in Virtu Financial by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 159,500 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,015,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Virtu Financial in the 1st quarter valued at about $214,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Virtu Financial by 172.7% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,688 shares of the company's stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in Virtu Financial by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 91,311 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,015,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.78% of the company's stock.

About Virtu Financial

Virtu Financial, Inc is a technology-driven electronic trading firm and market maker that provides liquidity and price discovery across a wide range of financial instruments. Leveraging advanced analytics, high-performance computing and proprietary algorithms, Virtu operates in equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, commodities and derivative products. Its technology platform is designed to capture bid-ask spreads in real time, manage risk through automated controls and adapt to changing market conditions.

The company offers a suite of execution services and market-making solutions to institutional clients such as asset managers, banks, broker-dealers and hedge funds.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.