Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) Holdings Boosted by Wedge Capital Management L L P NC

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 11.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,302 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,081 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $614,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 7.6% in the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 8,347,311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $144,158,000 after buying an additional 588,749 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 156.9% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 801,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,834,000 after buying an additional 489,264 shares in the last quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. increased its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 913.6% in the fourth quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. now owns 306,289 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,205,000 after buying an additional 276,071 shares in the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the third quarter valued at $2,294,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 14.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,037,105 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,911,000 after buying an additional 126,965 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on VIRT shares. UBS Group dropped their price target on Virtu Financial from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Virtu Financial from $19.20 to $21.70 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $22.50 to $24.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Virtu Financial news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu acquired 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $16.21 per share, for a total transaction of $810,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 584,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,468,779.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 44.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Virtu Financial Trading Down 1.7 %

Virtu Financial stock opened at $22.02 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.02 and a 12 month high of $22.80. The stock has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.40.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.13). Virtu Financial had a net margin of 6.04% and a return on equity of 17.14%. The company had revenue of $535.98 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $272.96 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 1.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 15th. Investors of record on Saturday, June 1st will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.13%.

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.