Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Trims Holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System trimmed its position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 11.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 28,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,650 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $1,078,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Virtu Financial by 1.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,568,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $364,753,000 after acquiring an additional 165,396 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Virtu Financial by 48.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,448,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,696,000 after acquiring an additional 471,526 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,993,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in Virtu Financial by 69.5% during the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,063,011 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,522,000 after acquiring an additional 435,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in Virtu Financial by 11.5% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 930,110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,856,000 after acquiring an additional 95,692 shares in the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Virtu Financial Stock Down 0.0%

Virtu Financial stock opened at $42.44 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.54 billion, a PE ratio of 12.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.69. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $28.14 and a 12 month high of $45.77. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.99. 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 Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 1st will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is currently 21.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VIRT has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price target (up from $40.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Bank of America cut Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $43.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Virtu Financial from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total value of $298,241.30. Following the sale, the director directly owned 33,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,452,582.86. The trade was a 17.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 90,701 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.40, for a total value of $3,845,722.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 47.20% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Profile

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.