Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Takes $760,000 Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 21,313 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $760,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 38.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,974,095 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $151,511,000 after purchasing an additional 1,368,419 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Virtu Financial in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,815,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 28.3% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 834,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,027,000 after acquiring an additional 183,823 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 391,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,970,000 after acquiring an additional 5,371 shares during the period. Finally, Portolan Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Virtu Financial in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $11,918,000. 45.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In related news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was 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 directly owns 90,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. This represents a 44.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.41, for a total value of $1,271,940.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 157,703 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,899,669.23. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 140,967 shares of company stock valued at $5,213,964 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 46.70% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

Shares of VIRT opened at $36.56 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $37.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.38. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.35 and a 52-week high of $41.38. The firm has a market cap of $5.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.32. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 27.39% and a net margin of 9.61%. Analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 32.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VIRT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.36.

About Virtu Financial

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.