Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Has $1.27 Million Stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 0.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 281 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $1,273,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 439.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 1,923 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Virtu Financial

In other news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 178,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.57, for a total transaction of $6,877,802.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 408,867 shares in the company, valued at $15,770,000.19. This trade represents a 30.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total value of $298,241.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 33,923 shares in the company, valued at $1,452,582.86. This represents a 17.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 362,846 shares of company stock worth $14,079,615 in the last 90 days. 47.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VIRT opened at $39.90 on Wednesday. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.59 and a fifty-two week high of $44.58. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.90. The company has a market capitalization of $6.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 1.13.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.31. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 27.39%. The company had revenue of $497.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $444.23 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on VIRT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Bank of America downgraded Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.25.

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.