Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Decreases Stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp cut its position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 82.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 19,697 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $147,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VIRT. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 38.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,974,095 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $151,511,000 after purchasing an additional 1,368,419 shares during the last quarter. Portolan Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $11,918,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $12,196,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 28.3% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its position in Virtu Financial by 538.4% in the fourth quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 193,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,915,000 after acquiring an additional 163,454 shares during the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Virtu Financial Stock Up 1.9 %

VIRT opened at $39.30 on Thursday. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.15 and a 52 week high of $41.38. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $37.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.50. 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 $6.09 billion, a PE ratio of 13.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of Virtu Financial 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 90,749 shares in the company, valued at $3,343,193.16. The trade was a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.41, for a total value of $1,271,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 157,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,899,669.23. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 140,967 shares of company stock valued at $5,213,964 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 46.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on VIRT. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America cut their price target on Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Virtu Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.21.

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.