Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Lowers Stock Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS reduced its position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 270 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $615,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Virtu Financial by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,794 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. increased its position in Virtu Financial by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 30,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,075,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Virtu Financial by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,974 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 509 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Virtu Financial by 172.7% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. 45.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of VIRT stock opened at $38.54 on Thursday. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.13 and a twelve month high of $41.38. The company has a market capitalization of $5.97 billion, a PE ratio of 12.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.57. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.26.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.32. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 27.39%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.49%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VIRT. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Virtu Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 90,749 shares in the company, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total transaction of $1,253,920.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,703 shares in the company, valued at $7,070,006.64. This trade represents a 15.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 140,967 shares of company stock worth $5,213,964 in the last three months. 46.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.