Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Makes New Investment in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC purchased a new stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 13,577 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $484,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Virtu Financial by 172.7% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new stake in Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VIRT opened at $32.82 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $37.09 and its 200 day moving average is $35.60. The stock has a market cap of $5.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.15 and a 1-year high of $41.38. 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 (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.93%. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 32.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VIRT. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley cut Virtu Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $26.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report 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 stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.21.

Insider Activity

In other Virtu Financial news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 157,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,899,669.23. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.84, for a total transaction of $2,688,104.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 90,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. This trade represents a 44.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 140,967 shares of company stock valued at $5,213,964. 46.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.