Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Decreases Stock Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $1,395,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,081,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D purchased a new stake in Virtu Financial in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,971,000. Barclays PLC raised its position in Virtu Financial by 60.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 55,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,691,000 after purchasing an additional 20,843 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP raised its position in Virtu Financial by 124.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 53,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,638,000 after purchasing an additional 29,844 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Virtu Financial by 48.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 358,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,907,000 after purchasing an additional 117,062 shares during the period. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.36.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 90,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. The trade was a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 46.70% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ VIRT opened at $36.77 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.94. The stock has a market cap of $5.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.46. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.62 and a 12-month high of $41.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) 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, analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.32%.

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.