Legal & General Group Plc Sells 9,342 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 231,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,342 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $8,275,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VIRT. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 172.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total transaction of $1,253,920.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,703 shares in the company, valued at $7,070,006.64. The trade was a 15.06 % decrease in their position. 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 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 90,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. The trade was a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 140,967 shares of company stock valued at $5,213,964. 46.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VIRT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Virtu Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $26.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.21.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

VIRT opened at $38.46 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $36.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.96 billion, a PE ratio of 12.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 1.13. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.44 and a 52 week high of $41.38.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last announced 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 return on equity of 27.39% and a net margin of 9.61%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.