Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 2,007 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio reduced its position in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,349 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,007 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $985,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in Virtu Financial by 38.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,974,095 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $151,511,000 after acquiring an additional 1,368,419 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the third quarter worth about $29,815,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the 2nd quarter worth about $9,751,000. Portolan Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Virtu Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $11,918,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Virtu Financial by 39.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,215,833 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,295,000 after buying an additional 342,327 shares during the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VIRT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $32.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of Virtu Financial in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.50.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of Virtu Financial stock opened at $34.56 on Friday. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.02 and a twelve month high of $38.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market cap of $5.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.04.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.03. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 23.22% and a net margin of 7.29%. The company had revenue of $388.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $379.18 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 2.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 1st were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.24%.

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.