Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $12.20 Million in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 341,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,196,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.22% of Virtu Financial as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 38.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,974,095 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $151,511,000 after acquiring an additional 1,368,419 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,031,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,809,000 after acquiring an additional 52,800 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 28.3% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 834,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,027,000 after acquiring an additional 183,823 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 1.4% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Portolan Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Virtu Financial in the third quarter valued at $11,918,000. Institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price 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. Piper Sandler raised their target price 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Virtu Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.36.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

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

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,070,006.64. The trade was a 15.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 90,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,343,193.16. The trade was a 44.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 140,967 shares of company stock valued at $5,213,964. Company insiders own 46.70% of the company’s stock.

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.