West Michigan Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

West Michigan Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 8,076 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $288,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,368,419 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in Virtu Financial by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,031,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,809,000 after purchasing an additional 52,800 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Virtu Financial by 28.3% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 834,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,027,000 after purchasing an additional 183,823 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 1.4% in 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. Finally, Portolan Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $11,918,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on VIRT. Morgan Stanley raised 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. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.36.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of VIRT opened at $36.56 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.47. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.35 and a fifty-two week high of $41.38. The stock has a market cap of $5.65 billion, a PE ratio of 12.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 1.13.

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

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 32.32%.

Insider Transactions at Virtu Financial

In other Virtu Financial news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.41, for a total transaction of $1,271,940.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 157,703 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,899,669.23. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 140,967 shares of company stock worth $5,213,964. Corporate 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.