Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) EVP Stephen Cavoli Sells 28,370 Shares

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 28,370 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.94, for a total transaction of $1,104,727.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 116,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,524,477.54. The trade was a 19.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

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

• On Thursday, February 12th, Stephen Cavoli sold 30,000 shares of Virtu Financial stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.61, for a total transaction of $1,128,300.00.
• 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 Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VIRT traded up $0.29 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.37. 1,100,187 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,285,646. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.55 and a 12 month high of $45.77. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $35.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $6.02 billion, a PE ratio of 11.38, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.71%.

Institutional Trading of Virtu Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Virtu Financial by 1.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,999,628 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $354,987,000 after acquiring an additional 142,890 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 64.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,370,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $84,149,000 after purchasing an additional 926,376 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,900,702 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,338,000 after purchasing an additional 115,612 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,395,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,514,000 after purchasing an additional 14,113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 53.1% during 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 buying an additional 474,177 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on VIRT. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target 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, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Virtu Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.00.

About Virtu Financial

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.