Portolan Capital Management LLC Boosts Stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Portolan Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 35.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 528,607 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 137,335 shares during the quarter. Virtu Financial comprises about 1.3% of Portolan Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Portolan Capital Management LLC owned about 0.34% of Virtu Financial worth $18,861,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 7.7% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 47,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,444,000 after acquiring an additional 3,393 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the 3rd quarter worth about $394,000. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 60.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 55,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,691,000 after buying an additional 20,843 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 24.5% in the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 27,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $850,000 after buying an additional 5,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,081,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.41, for a total transaction of $1,271,940.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 157,703 shares in the company, valued at $5,899,669.23. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.84, for a total transaction of $2,688,104.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 90,749 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 140,967 shares of company stock worth $5,213,964. 46.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on VIRT shares. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Virtu Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $26.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler increased 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Virtu Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.21.

Virtu Financial Trading Up 4.2 %

Shares of VIRT opened at $37.03 on Monday. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.30 and a twelve month high of $41.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.47, 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. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.74.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.32%.

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.