Royce & Associates LP Sells 10,476 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Royce & Associates LP lowered its position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 65,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 10,476 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $1,980,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in Virtu Financial by 28.6% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 14,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 3,162 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Virtu Financial by 14.1% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 124,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,564,000 after acquiring an additional 15,435 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in Virtu Financial by 76.5% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 73,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,510,000 after acquiring an additional 31,884 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 3.1% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 40,908 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $841,000 after acquiring an additional 1,217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis lifted its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 110.0% in the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 189,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,878,000 after acquiring an additional 99,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

VIRT stock opened at $36.90 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $32.37 and a 200 day moving average of $28.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.54, a PEG ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 0.38. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.02 and a 1 year high of $37.20.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $388.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $379.18 million. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 23.22% and a net margin of 7.29%. The firm’s revenue was up 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 2.7 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 48.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Virtu Financial from $32.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of Virtu Financial in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.50.

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.