Brett Fairclough Sells 72,967 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) Stock

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 90,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. This represents a 44.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Virtu Financial Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Virtu Financial stock opened at $36.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.46. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.62 and a 1 year high of $41.38. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $37.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.89. The stock has a market cap of $5.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.38, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.46.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 earnings per share (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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 32.32%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 30.5% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 19,756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $444,000 after buying an additional 4,620 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 23,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $534,000 after buying an additional 3,078 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $228,000. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 298,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,090,000 after buying an additional 21,918 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $207,000. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on VIRT shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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 upped their price target on shares of 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.36.

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.