Sterling Capital Management LLC Grows Stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,016 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 554 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $1,285,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new position in Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $387,000. FIL Ltd boosted its position in Virtu Financial by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 542,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,358,000 after acquiring an additional 22,644 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Virtu Financial by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 802,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,629,000 after acquiring an additional 82,396 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Virtu Financial by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 14,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $516,000 after acquiring an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 28.2% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,375,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $227,488,000 after purchasing an additional 1,401,688 shares during the period. 45.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on VIRT. Piper Sandler upped 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. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Virtu Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.21.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Virtu Financial stock opened at $38.23 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $36.72 and a 200-day moving average of $35.79. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.30 and a 52-week high of $41.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.87, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In other Virtu Financial news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total value of $1,253,920.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,703 shares in the company, valued at $7,070,006.64. The trade was a 15.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 90,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,343,193.16. This represents a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 140,967 shares of company stock valued at $5,213,964 over the last 90 days. 46.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.