Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) Shares Sold by Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 24.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,972 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,000 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $677,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VIRT. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,794 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. increased its holdings 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 during the period. HBW Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Virtu Financial by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,974 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 172.7% in the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VIRT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of 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 given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.36.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VIRT opened at $37.76 on Friday. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.15 and a 12 month high of $41.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.57. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $37.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.35.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 earnings per share 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 32.32%.

Insider Activity at Virtu Financial

In other news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total value of $1,253,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,070,006.64. This represents a 15.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.84, for a total transaction of $2,688,104.28. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 90,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,343,193.16. This trade represents a 44.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 140,967 shares of company stock worth $5,213,964 in the last 90 days. 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.