Sei Investments Co. Buys 14,975 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 319,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,975 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $11,409,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VIRT. FMR LLC grew its stake in Virtu Financial by 38.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,974,095 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $151,511,000 after acquiring an additional 1,368,419 shares during the period. Portolan Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Virtu Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $11,918,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $12,196,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Virtu Financial by 28.3% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 834,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,027,000 after buying an additional 183,823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $6,915,000 after buying an additional 163,454 shares in the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Virtu Financial news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.84, for a total value of $2,688,104.28. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 90,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. The trade was a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.41, for a total transaction of $1,271,940.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 157,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 140,967 shares of company stock valued at $5,213,964. 46.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Virtu Financial Stock Up 0.1 %

Virtu Financial stock opened at $37.76 on Friday. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.15 and a fifty-two week high of $41.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 1.13. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.35. The stock has a market cap of $5.85 billion, a PE ratio of 12.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.57.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Research analysts predict 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 was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 32.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on VIRT. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler boosted 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Virtu Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.36.

Virtu Financial Company 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.