Strs Ohio Buys Shares of 83,873 Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Strs Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 83,873 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,699,000. Strs Ohio owned 0.05% of Virtu Financial at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VIRT. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in Virtu Financial by 123.8% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,596 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 883 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its position in Virtu Financial by 236.4% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,581 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in Virtu Financial by 8,400.0% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,700 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,680 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in Virtu Financial by 42.7% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 3,176 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Virtu Financial during the first quarter worth $65,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.78% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VIRT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Virtu Financial from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Virtu Financial from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Virtu Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Citigroup upped their price objective on Virtu Financial from $21.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Virtu Financial from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $20.75.

Virtu Financial Trading Up 2.4 %

NASDAQ VIRT traded up $0.49 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $21.06. 896,480 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 840,697. The business's 50 day moving average is $19.18 and its 200-day moving average is $18.74. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.02 and a 12-month high of $21.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.46.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $535.98 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $272.96 million. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 6.22%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 1.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.56%. Virtu Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.57%.

Insider Activity

In other Virtu Financial news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu acquired 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $16.21 per share, for a total transaction of $810,500.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 584,132 shares in the company, valued at $9,468,779.72. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 44.80% 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.