SG Americas Securities LLC Increases Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. $VIRT

SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VIRT) by 6.3% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 208,816 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,328 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $9,184,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VIRT. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 64.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,370,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,149,000 after buying an additional 926,376 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Virtu Financial by 290.3% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,132,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,730,000 after buying an additional 842,247 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Virtu Financial by 565.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 815,143 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,161,000 after acquiring an additional 692,643 shares during the period. Algebris UK Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $22,377,000. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the third quarter valued at about $19,102,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VIRT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Virtu Financial from $44.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Virtu Financial in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen cut Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Virtu Financial from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Virtu Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Virtu Financial news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.06, for a total transaction of $1,501,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 42,473 shares in the company, valued at $2,126,198.38. This trade represents a 41.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 46.76% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of VIRT stock opened at $60.54 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.02, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.61. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.55 and a 52 week high of $64.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.08.

Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $786.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $613.12 million. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 14.17% and a return on equity of 51.63%. The business’s revenue was up 30.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.30 EPS. Analysts predict that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 5.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.89%.

About Virtu Financial

Virtu Financial, Inc is a technology-driven electronic trading firm and market maker that provides liquidity and price discovery across a wide range of financial instruments. Leveraging advanced analytics, high-performance computing and proprietary algorithms, Virtu operates in equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, commodities and derivative products. Its technology platform is designed to capture bid-ask spreads in real time, manage risk through automated controls and adapt to changing market conditions.

The company offers a suite of execution services and market-making solutions to institutional clients such as asset managers, banks, broker-dealers and hedge funds.