Cerity Partners LLC Buys 392 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 392 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $516,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VIRT. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Virtu Financial by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 391,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,970,000 after purchasing an additional 5,371 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 60.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 55,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,691,000 after acquiring an additional 20,843 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 48.6% in 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 period. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter worth about $954,000. Finally, Moody Aldrich Partners LLC increased its position in Virtu Financial by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 310,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,088,000 after purchasing an additional 55,102 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VIRT shares. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley cut Virtu Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $26.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Virtu Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.21.

Insider Transactions at Virtu Financial

In other Virtu Financial news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 90,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. This trade represents a 44.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 157,703 shares in the company, valued at $5,899,669.23. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 140,967 shares of company stock worth $5,213,964 over the last three months. 46.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Virtu Financial Trading Down 3.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VIRT opened at $37.16 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $5.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. The business’s 50-day moving average is $36.70 and its 200 day moving average is $36.03. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.92 and a 1 year high of $41.38.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.32%.

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.