Barclays PLC Raises Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 60.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 55,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,843 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $1,691,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D purchased a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,971,000. Seven Eight Capital LP boosted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 41.9% in the second quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 94,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,124,000 after purchasing an additional 27,948 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP raised its stake in Virtu Financial by 124.7% during the third quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 53,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,638,000 after acquiring an additional 29,844 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Virtu Financial in the second quarter worth about $381,000. Finally, Scientech Research LLC acquired a new position in Virtu Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $395,000. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of VIRT opened at $36.61 on Friday. 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 $5.66 billion, a PE ratio of 18.40, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $34.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.52. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.02 and a twelve month high of $38.45.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $388.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $379.18 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.40 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio 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.