Stephens Investment Management Group LLC Reduces Holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. $VIRT

Stephens Investment Management Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 25.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 406,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 142,027 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC owned 0.27% of Virtu Financial worth $14,417,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in Virtu Financial by 96.0% during the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 582 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 103.8% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 387 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in Virtu Financial by 1,624.1% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 942 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Corp acquired a new position in Virtu Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 410.6% in the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VIRT. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $48.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 6th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of Virtu Financial in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Bank of America raised Virtu Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Virtu Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $42.57.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VIRT opened at $36.87 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $34.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.64 billion, a PE ratio of 10.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.49. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.55 and a 12 month high of $45.77.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $467.02 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $422.92 million. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 32.08% and a net margin of 10.43%.The company’s revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.82 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.78%.

About Virtu Financial

Virtu Financial, Inc (NASDAQ: VIRT) is a leading global electronic trading firm specializing in market making, liquidity provision and trade execution services across a broad range of asset classes. Leveraging advanced quantitative models and proprietary trading technology, Virtu provides continuous bid and ask quotes in equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, commodities and digital assets. The firm’s infrastructure is designed to operate at high speeds and low latencies, enabling tight spreads and efficient price discovery for its clients.

In addition to its market-making activities, Virtu offers agency execution services, algorithmic trading strategies and transaction cost analysis tools.