Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) Shares Acquired by Legacy Capital Group California Inc.

Legacy Capital Group California Inc. boosted its stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 12.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,512 shares during the quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc.’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC boosted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Virtu Financial during the third quarter valued at about $29,815,000. Portolan Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the third quarter worth approximately $11,918,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in Virtu Financial by 400.0% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 328,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,008,000 after purchasing an additional 262,835 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in 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 valued at $30,027,000 after buying an additional 183,823 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total value of $1,253,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,703 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,070,006.64. This trade represents a 15.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $2,688,104.28. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 90,749 shares in the company, valued at $3,343,193.16. This represents a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 140,967 shares of company stock valued at $5,213,964 in the last three months. Company insiders own 46.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler upped 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.36.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of Virtu Financial stock opened at $37.05 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.47, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.46. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.62 and a 1-year high of $41.38.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 earnings per share (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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.