1834 Investment Advisors Co. Cuts Stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

1834 Investment Advisors Co. lessened its stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 11.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 286,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 38,066 shares during the period. Virtu Financial comprises about 1.3% of 1834 Investment Advisors Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. 1834 Investment Advisors Co.’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $10,235,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VIRT. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 38.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,974,095 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $151,511,000 after buying an additional 1,368,419 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the third quarter valued at about $29,815,000. Portolan Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the third quarter valued at about $11,918,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings 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, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in Virtu Financial by 1,014.9% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 164,377 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,007,000 after purchasing an additional 149,634 shares during the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of VIRT opened at $39.52 on Friday. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.02 and a fifty-two week high of $39.60. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.56. The stock has a market cap of $6.11 billion, a PE ratio of 19.86, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.03. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 23.22% and a net margin of 7.29%. The company had revenue of $388.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $379.18 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. 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.