Insider Selling: Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) EVP Sells 30,000 Shares of Stock

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.61, for a total transaction of $1,128,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 174,561 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,565,239.21. This represents a 14.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Stephen Cavoli also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, February 11th, Stephen Cavoli sold 11,630 shares of Virtu Financial stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.66, for a total transaction of $449,615.80.

Virtu Financial Trading Up 2.1%

VIRT traded up $0.79 on Friday, reaching $38.38. 894,784 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,296,948. The company has a market cap of $5.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a one year low of $31.55 and a one year high of $45.77. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.60.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.73. The business had revenue of $969.89 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $513.51 million. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 32.08%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.71%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VIRT. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 64.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,370,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $84,149,000 after acquiring an additional 926,376 shares in the last quarter. Algebris UK Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter worth $22,377,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at $19,102,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 53.1% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,367,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,549,000 after purchasing an additional 474,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Virtu Financial by 97.8% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 884,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,459,000 after buying an additional 437,079 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VIRT has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Virtu Financial from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Virtu Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Virtu Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.00.

Virtu Financial Company Profile

Virtu Financial, Inc (NASDAQ: VIRT) is a leading global electronic trading firm specializing in market making, liquidity provision and trade execution services across a broad range of asset classes. Leveraging advanced quantitative models and proprietary trading technology, Virtu provides continuous bid and ask quotes in equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, commodities and digital assets. The firm’s infrastructure is designed to operate at high speeds and low latencies, enabling tight spreads and efficient price discovery for its clients.

In addition to its market-making activities, Virtu offers agency execution services, algorithmic trading strategies and transaction cost analysis tools.