Marshall Wace LLP Raises Holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 1,358.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 329,738 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 307,133 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $11,765,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 172.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Virtu Financial

In other news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.84, for a total transaction of $2,688,104.28. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 90,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. This represents a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.41, for a total transaction of $1,271,940.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 140,967 shares of company stock worth $5,213,964 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 46.70% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of VIRT opened at $37.16 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $36.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.03. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.92 and a 12-month high of $41.38. 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 has a market cap of $5.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VIRT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Virtu Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $26.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.21.

Virtu Financial Company 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.