BNP Paribas Financial Markets Sells 16,814 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets lowered its stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 229,841 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 16,814 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned about 0.15% of Virtu Financial worth $8,201,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 391,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,970,000 after purchasing an additional 5,371 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 60.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 55,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,691,000 after purchasing an additional 20,843 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 48.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 358,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,907,000 after purchasing an additional 117,062 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter worth $954,000. Finally, Moody Aldrich Partners LLC increased its holdings in Virtu Financial by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 310,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,088,000 after buying an additional 55,102 shares during the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Virtu Financial news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,070,006.64. The trade was a 15.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.84, for a total value of $2,688,104.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 90,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,343,193.16. This represents a 44.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 496,848 shares of company stock valued at $18,995,338. 47.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Virtu Financial Trading Up 1.6%

VIRT opened at $43.15 on Monday. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.55 and a twelve month high of $43.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.68.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $497.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $444.23 million. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 27.39%. Virtu Financial’s revenue was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 27.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 target price (up from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.88.

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.