Barclays PLC Purchases 20,843 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 60.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,843 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $1,691,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $151,511,000 after buying an additional 1,368,419 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in Virtu Financial by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,643,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $81,801,000 after purchasing an additional 124,563 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,815,000. Old West Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Old West Investment Management LLC now owns 681,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,298,000 after purchasing an additional 28,199 shares during the period. Finally, Portolan Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the third quarter valued at approximately $11,918,000. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VIRT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Virtu Financial from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $32.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Virtu Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.21.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VIRT opened at $34.64 on Friday. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.02 and a fifty-two week high of $38.45. The company has a market cap of $5.36 billion, a PE ratio of 17.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.54.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $388.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $379.18 million. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 7.29% and a return on equity of 23.22%. Virtu Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.40 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 2.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.24%.

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.