63,910 Shares in Virtu Financial, Inc. $VIRT Bought by OP Asset Management Ltd

OP Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VIRT) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 63,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,811,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Virtu Financial by 64.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,370,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,149,000 after purchasing an additional 926,376 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Virtu Financial by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,900,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,338,000 after buying an additional 115,612 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Virtu Financial by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,395,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,514,000 after buying an additional 14,113 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 53.1% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,367,583 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,549,000 after buying an additional 474,177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,359,452 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,318,000 after buying an additional 176,184 shares in the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.06, for a total value of $1,501,800.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 42,473 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,126,198.38. This represents a 41.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 46.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VIRT. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Virtu Financial in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Zacks Research raised shares of Virtu Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Virtu Financial from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Virtu Financial from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.67.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:VIRT opened at $60.54 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.39 billion, a PE ratio of 10.02, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $53.49 and its 200 day moving average is $44.08. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.55 and a fifty-two week high of $64.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.48.

Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.58. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 14.17% and a return on equity of 51.63%. The company had revenue of $786.53 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $613.12 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.30 earnings per share. Virtu Financial’s quarterly revenue was up 30.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 5.7 earnings per share for the current 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 dividend yield of 1.6%. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is currently 15.89%.

Virtu Financial Profile

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.