Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 11.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 386,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 48,182 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.25% of Virtu Financial worth $11,763,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Virtu Financial by 22.2% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 3.1% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 19,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $436,000 after acquiring an additional 587 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc raised its holdings in Virtu Financial by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 10,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $327,000 after acquiring an additional 717 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Virtu Financial by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 25,167 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $767,000 after acquiring an additional 728 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Virtu Financial by 42.9% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,864 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 860 shares during the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Virtu Financial stock opened at $36.61 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market cap of $5.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $35.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.65. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.02 and a 1 year high of $38.45.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.03. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 23.22% and a net margin of 7.29%. The firm had revenue of $388.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $379.18 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on VIRT shares. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $32.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of Virtu Financial in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Virtu Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.50.

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.