Stifel Financial Corp Cuts Stock Holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Stifel Financial Corp reduced its stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 8.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 126,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 11,416 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp owned about 0.08% of Virtu Financial worth $3,839,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 38.0% during the 3rd 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. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in Virtu Financial by 3.5% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 39.2% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,215,833 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,295,000 after purchasing an additional 342,327 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,815,000. Finally, Old West Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Old West Investment Management LLC now owns 681,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,298,000 after buying an additional 28,199 shares in the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VIRT has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup upped their target price on Virtu Financial from $32.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of 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 upped their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of Virtu Financial in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Virtu Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.50.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of Virtu Financial stock opened at $36.58 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $5.66 billion, a PE ratio of 18.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.43. The business has a 50 day moving average of $34.48 and a 200 day moving average of $29.88. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.02 and a 52 week high of $38.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23.

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

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 1st were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 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.