JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sells 148,793 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. trimmed its position in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) by 41.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 209,272 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 148,793 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 0.14% of Virtu Financial worth $7,467,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $344,000. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in Virtu Financial by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 73,342 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,617,000 after purchasing an additional 14,490 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,242,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Virtu Financial by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 319,763 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $11,409,000 after purchasing an additional 14,975 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 533.4% during the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 73,003 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,584,000 after purchasing an additional 61,477 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In other news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.84, for a total transaction of $2,688,104.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 90,749 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. This represents a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.41, for a total value of $1,271,940.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 157,703 shares in the company, valued at $5,899,669.23. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 140,967 shares of company stock valued at $5,213,964 in the last 90 days. 46.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VIRT shares. Morgan Stanley downgraded Virtu Financial from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $26.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $32.21.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Virtu Financial stock traded up $1.43 on Tuesday, reaching $38.59. The stock had a trading volume of 879,613 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,191,818. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 1.13. The business's 50-day moving average price is $36.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.05. The stock has a market cap of $5.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.92 and a fifty-two week high of $41.38.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.32. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 27.39%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. Virtu Financial's payout ratio is 32.32%.

About Virtu Financial

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.