PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Grows Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 98.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,535 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $469,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,081,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 391,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,970,000 after purchasing an additional 5,371 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 60.2% during 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 boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 124.7% during 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. boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 48.6% during 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 owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Virtu Financial Trading Up 2.7 %

NASDAQ:VIRT opened at $37.28 on Thursday. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a one year low of $19.06 and a one year high of $41.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.00.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.32. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 27.39%. Equities analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total transaction of $1,253,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,703 shares in the company, valued at $7,070,006.64. The trade was a 15.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was 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 owns 90,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. This trade represents a 44.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 140,967 shares of company stock worth $5,213,964 in the last 90 days. 46.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VIRT has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.36.

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.