Vanguard Group Inc. Cuts Stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) by 1.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,601,469 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 144,662 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 6.03% of Virtu Financial worth $165,817,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital World Investors bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the first quarter worth approximately $58,287,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter worth approximately $19,031,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 59.7% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,164,023 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $40,272,000 after purchasing an additional 809,085 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 553.8% during the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 810,853 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $30,180,000 after purchasing an additional 686,824 shares during the period. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 7.6% during the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 8,347,311 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $144,158,000 after purchasing an additional 588,749 shares during the period. 45.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of VIRT stock traded up $0.52 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $21.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 934,745 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,128,080. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $18.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.40. The company has a market capitalization of $3.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.03, a PEG ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 0.40. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.02 and a fifty-two week high of $21.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $535.98 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $272.96 million. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 6.22% and a return on equity of 16.94%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 1.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.56%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Virtu Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.57%.

Insider Activity at Virtu Financial

In other news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu acquired 50,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $16.21 per share, with a total value of $810,500.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 584,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,468,779.72. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 44.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VIRT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of Virtu Financial in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Virtu Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Virtu Financial from $21.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Virtu Financial from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Virtu Financial from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $19.92.

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.