Leuthold Group LLC Purchases New Holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Leuthold Group LLC acquired a new position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 80,478 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,871,000. Leuthold Group LLC owned about 0.05% of Virtu Financial at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VIRT. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,794 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. raised its position in Virtu Financial by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 30,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,075,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the period. HBW Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Virtu Financial by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,974 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $285,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 10,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $327,000 after purchasing an additional 717 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Virtu Financial Trading Down 4.5 %

Shares of VIRT stock opened at $35.39 on Friday. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.62 and a 1 year high of $41.38. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.18. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $5.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.92, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.46.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.32. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 27.39% and a net margin of 9.61%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 32.32%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were 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 owns 90,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. This represents a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total value of $1,253,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,703 shares in the company, valued at $7,070,006.64. This trade represents a 15.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 140,967 shares of company stock worth $5,213,964. 46.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Virtu Financial Company Profile

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.