Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. Grows Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,635 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 426 shares during the quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $701,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in VIRT. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Virtu Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,081,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 391,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,970,000 after buying an additional 5,371 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 60.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 55,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,691,000 after buying an additional 20,843 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Virtu Financial by 48.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 358,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,907,000 after acquiring an additional 117,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moody Aldrich Partners LLC grew its stake in Virtu Financial by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 310,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,088,000 after acquiring an additional 55,102 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In other Virtu Financial 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 value of $2,688,104.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 90,749 shares in the company, valued at $3,343,193.16. This represents a 44.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total transaction of $1,253,920.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,703 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,070,006.64. The trade was a 15.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 140,967 shares of company stock valued at $5,213,964 over the last three months. 46.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VIRT opened at $37.40 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.79 billion, a PE ratio of 12.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.15 and a 12 month high of $41.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The business has a 50-day moving average of $37.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.52.

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

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VIRT. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.21.

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.