Wealthfront Advisers LLC Takes Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 10,740 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $383,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VIRT. FMR LLC increased 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 buying an additional 1,368,419 shares during the period. Portolan Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the third quarter worth $11,918,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter worth $12,196,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 400.0% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 328,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,008,000 after purchasing an additional 262,835 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 183,823 shares during the period. 45.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.41, for a total transaction of $1,271,940.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 90,749 shares in the company, valued at $3,343,193.16. The trade was a 44.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 140,967 shares of company stock worth $5,213,964 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 46.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Virtu Financial Stock Up 4.4 %

NASDAQ:VIRT opened at $35.71 on Monday. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.06 and a 1 year 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 stock has a market cap of $5.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.02, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $37.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.91.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.32%.

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.