Legacy Capital Group California Inc. Grows Holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Legacy Capital Group California Inc. boosted its position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 12.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,512 shares during the quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc.’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $484,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $437,000. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,694,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 27,756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $990,000 after buying an additional 3,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Virtu Financial by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 391,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,970,000 after acquiring an additional 5,371 shares in the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In related news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.41, for a total value of $1,271,940.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 157,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,899,669.23. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $2,688,104.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 90,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. This represents a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 140,967 shares of company stock worth $5,213,964. 46.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on VIRT. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note 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 data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.36.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VIRT opened at $37.05 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.73 billion, a PE ratio of 12.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.46. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.62 and a fifty-two week high of $41.38. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its earnings results 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date is 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.