Prudential Financial Inc. Has $3.81 Million Stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Prudential Financial Inc. reduced its holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 43.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 109,030 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 84,986 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $3,807,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VIRT. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 73,342 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,617,000 after purchasing an additional 14,490 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,242,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 319,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,409,000 after buying an additional 14,975 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 533.4% during the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 73,003 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,584,000 after buying an additional 61,477 shares during the period. Finally, GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,416,000. 45.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In related news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total transaction of $1,253,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 90,749 shares in the company, 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 140,967 shares of company stock worth $5,213,964. Insiders own 46.70% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Virtu Financial stock opened at $38.55 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $5.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $37.48 and its 200-day moving average is $35.48. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a one year low of $20.15 and a one year high of $41.38.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 EPS 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%. Equities 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on VIRT. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Five equities research 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.36.

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.