Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Trims Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 299,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 28,948 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. owned 0.19% of Virtu Financial worth $10,690,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $151,511,000 after purchasing an additional 1,368,419 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Virtu Financial by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,031,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,809,000 after purchasing an additional 52,800 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $30,027,000 after purchasing an additional 183,823 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Virtu Financial by 1.4% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Portolan Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Virtu Financial during the third quarter worth about $11,918,000. 45.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total transaction 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 $7,070,006.64. This represents a 15.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 140,967 shares of company stock worth $5,213,964 over the last ninety days. 46.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VIRT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price target 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price target 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.36.

Virtu Financial Trading Up 4.4 %

Shares of VIRT opened at $35.71 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’s 50-day moving average is $37.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.81. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.95 and a twelve month high of $41.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.02, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.57.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, research analysts predict 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.32%.

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.