OLD National Bancorp IN Lowers Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

OLD National Bancorp IN lessened its stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 6.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 309,227 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 19,699 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN owned about 0.20% of Virtu Financial worth $11,788,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 172.7% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 551 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 439.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 1,923 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VIRT. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 target price (up from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Bank of America downgraded Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $43.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.25.

Virtu Financial Stock Up 2.4%

NASDAQ VIRT opened at $41.85 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $39.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.85. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a one year low of $21.59 and a one year high of $44.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $6.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.68.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $444.23 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The business 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 $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Virtu Financial news, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 33,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,452,582.86. This trade represents a 17.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 178,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.57, for a total value of $6,877,802.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 408,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,770,000.19. This trade represents a 30.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 362,846 shares of company stock valued at $14,079,615 in the last three months. 47.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.