Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Buys 609,821 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 180.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 948,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 609,821 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned 0.61% of Virtu Financial worth $33,846,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $151,511,000 after buying an additional 1,368,419 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,031,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,809,000 after acquiring an additional 52,800 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Virtu Financial by 28.3% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 834,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,027,000 after acquiring an additional 183,823 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Virtu Financial by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 391,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,970,000 after acquiring an additional 5,371 shares during the period. Finally, Portolan Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Virtu Financial in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $11,918,000. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of Virtu Financial stock opened at $39.30 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.09 billion, a PE ratio of 13.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.15 and a 12 month high of $41.38. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $37.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.50.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.32. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 27.39%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VIRT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In other news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total value of $1,253,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,070,006.64. The trade was a 15.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 90,749 shares in the company, valued at $3,343,193.16. This trade represents a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 140,967 shares of company stock worth $5,213,964 over the last three months. Company insiders own 46.70% of the company’s stock.

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.