Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. Makes New $393,000 Investment in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. purchased a new stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 10,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $393,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.84, for a total transaction 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 178,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.57, for a total transaction of $6,877,802.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 408,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,770,000.19. This trade represents a 30.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 496,848 shares of company stock worth $18,995,338. Company insiders own 46.70% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

VIRT opened at $39.20 on Tuesday. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12-month low of $21.38 and a 12-month high of $41.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.07 billion, a PE ratio of 13.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $36.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.27.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $444.23 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. Virtu Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VIRT. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.88.

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.