Vanguard Group Inc. Reduces Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,523,078 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 78,391 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 6.02% of Virtu Financial worth $192,938,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP raised its stake in Virtu Financial by 79.9% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 746 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 112.3% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 1,127 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 48.1% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,574 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 1,161 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Virtu Financial by 1,867.8% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 3,885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peddock Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter worth approximately $241,000. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VIRT. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 19th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $22.50 to $24.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Virtu Financial from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Virtu Financial from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Virtu Financial from $19.20 to $21.70 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.10.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

Shares of VIRT stock opened at $22.16 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $22.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.48 billion, a PE ratio of 15.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 0.39. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.02 and a 52-week high of $25.68.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.12. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 6.04%. The company had revenue of $366.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $334.79 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, June 1st were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.33%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.13%.

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.