Insider Selling: Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT) COO Sells 30,000 Shares of Stock

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VIRT) COO Brett Fairclough sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.06, for a total transaction of $1,501,800.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 42,473 shares in the company, valued at $2,126,198.38. This trade represents a 41.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VIRT traded up $1.75 on Friday, reaching $51.29. 1,655,273 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,355,980. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.49, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.62. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.55 and a fifty-two week high of $52.21. The business’s 50-day moving average is $45.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $786.53 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $613.12 million. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 14.17% and a return on equity of 51.63%. The firm’s revenue was up 30.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 15.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on VIRT shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Virtu Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 11th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $44.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.67.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Virtu Financial by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,920,590 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,458,000 after buying an additional 19,888 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its position in Virtu Financial by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 159,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,015,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Virtu Financial in the 1st quarter valued at about $214,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Virtu Financial by 172.7% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,688 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in Virtu Financial by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 91,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,015,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

About Virtu Financial

Virtu Financial, Inc is a technology-driven electronic trading firm and market maker that provides liquidity and price discovery across a wide range of financial instruments. Leveraging advanced analytics, high-performance computing and proprietary algorithms, Virtu operates in equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, commodities and derivative products. Its technology platform is designed to capture bid-ask spreads in real time, manage risk through automated controls and adapt to changing market conditions.

The company offers a suite of execution services and market-making solutions to institutional clients such as asset managers, banks, broker-dealers and hedge funds.