Amundi Buys New Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Amundi bought a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 88,165 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,261,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VIRT. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Virtu Financial by 98.7% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 13,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $469,000 after purchasing an additional 6,535 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its holdings in Virtu Financial by 538.4% in the fourth quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 193,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,915,000 after purchasing an additional 163,454 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter worth $12,196,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter worth $1,032,000. Finally, Seizert Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Virtu Financial by 109.7% in the fourth quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC now owns 153,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,466,000 after purchasing an additional 80,132 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Virtu Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.36.

Virtu Financial Trading Up 4.4 %

NASDAQ VIRT opened at $35.71 on Monday. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $19.06 and a 12 month high of $41.38. The stock has a market cap of $5.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $37.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 27.39% and a net margin of 9.61%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.32%.

Insider Activity at Virtu Financial

In other Virtu Financial news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total value of $1,253,920.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,070,006.64. This trade represents a 15.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 90,749 shares in the company, valued at $3,343,193.16. The trade was a 44.57 % 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 ninety days. Insiders own 46.70% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial 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.