O Neil Global Advisors Inc. Purchases 12,313 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

O Neil Global Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 72.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 29,343 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,313 shares during the quarter. Virtu Financial accounts for approximately 0.3% of O Neil Global Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. O Neil Global Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $1,047,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 38.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,974,095 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $151,511,000 after buying an additional 1,368,419 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Virtu Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,815,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Virtu Financial by 28.3% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 834,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,027,000 after buying an additional 183,823 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Virtu Financial by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 391,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,970,000 after buying an additional 5,371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Portolan Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the third quarter worth approximately $11,918,000. 45.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

VIRT stock opened at $37.05 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $37.17 and its 200-day moving average is $34.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The company has a market cap of $5.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.46. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.62 and a twelve month high of $41.38.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 32.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.41, for a total transaction of $1,271,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 157,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,899,669.23. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was 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 directly owns 90,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,343,193.16. This represents a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 140,967 shares of company stock valued at $5,213,964 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 46.70% of the company’s stock.

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.