Brucke Financial Inc. Takes Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Brucke Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 6,733 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $240,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 28.2% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,375,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $227,488,000 after acquiring an additional 1,401,688 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Virtu Financial by 48.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,448,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,696,000 after purchasing an additional 471,526 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $39,993,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Virtu Financial by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,031,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,809,000 after purchasing an additional 52,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Virtu Financial by 180.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 948,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,846,000 after purchasing an additional 609,821 shares in the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total transaction of $298,241.30. Following the transaction, the director now owns 33,923 shares in the company, valued at $1,452,582.86. This trade represents a 17.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 178,320 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.57, for a total value of $6,877,802.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 408,867 shares in the company, valued at $15,770,000.19. This trade represents a 30.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 362,846 shares of company stock worth $14,079,615. Corporate insiders own 47.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VIRT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a report on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. 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. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $43.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, May 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.25.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VIRT opened at $40.75 on Tuesday. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.55 and a twelve month high of $44.58. The company’s 50 day moving average is $39.02 and its 200 day moving average is $37.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The company has a market cap of $6.28 billion, a PE ratio of 13.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.68.

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

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.75%.

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.