794 Shares in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) Acquired by Kestra Investment Management LLC

Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 794 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $28,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,794 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the period. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. boosted its position in Virtu Financial by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 30,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,075,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,974 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $285,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc increased its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 7.2% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 10,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $327,000 after acquiring an additional 717 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Trading Down 4.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ VIRT opened at $35.39 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.92, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.46. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $37.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.62 and a 52-week high of $41.38.

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

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is currently 32.32%.

Insider Activity

In other Virtu Financial news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.41, for a total value of $1,271,940.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 157,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,899,669.23. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 90,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. The trade was a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 140,967 shares of company stock valued at $5,213,964. Company insiders own 46.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VIRT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on 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 increased their target price on Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.36.

Virtu Financial 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.