Bailard Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Bailard Inc. lessened its holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 26.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,700 shares during the period. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $496,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 112.3% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 1,127 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 1,867.8% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 3,885 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the 3rd quarter worth $184,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the 3rd quarter worth $195,000. Finally, Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $311,000. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VIRT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $20.00 to $21.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $19.20 to $21.70 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com raised Virtu Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Virtu Financial from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Virtu Financial news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu purchased 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $16.21 per share, for a total transaction of $810,500.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 584,132 shares in the company, valued at $9,468,779.72. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 44.80% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Trading Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ VIRT opened at $22.02 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.02 and a 12-month high of $22.80. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.87.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $535.98 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $272.96 million. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 17.14% and a net margin of 6.04%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 1.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 1st will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 67.13%.

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.