Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Purchases 46,434 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. $VIRT

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VIRT) by 52.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 134,326 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 46,434 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $7,409,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its stake in Virtu Financial by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 18,781 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,036,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Independent Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Legacy Financial Independent Advisors LLC now owns 11,128 shares of the company’s stock worth $614,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 16.3% in the 3rd quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Virtu Financial by 3.1% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $466,000 after buying an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 4.3% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

VIRT opened at $59.65 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.26 billion, a PE ratio of 8.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $57.10 and a 200-day moving average of $52.86. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.55 and a 52-week high of $68.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.49.

Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $1.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.25. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 14.20% and a return on equity of 49.68%. The company had revenue of $956.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $647.02 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 147.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 6.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 1st will be given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 1st. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In other news, Director Joseph J. Grano, Jr. sold 8,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.94, for a total transaction of $511,896.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 33,814 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,060,625.16. The trade was a 19.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John Nixon sold 9,094 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.13, for a total value of $546,822.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 30,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,858,137.26. The trade was a 22.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 46.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on VIRT shares. Zacks Research downgraded Virtu Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Virtu Financial in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.25.

Virtu Financial Company Profile

Virtu Financial, Inc. is a financial technology firm and electronic market maker that provides liquidity across a range of global financial markets. The company uses technology and quantitative analysis to facilitate trading in asset classes including equities, exchange-traded funds, options, futures, currencies, fixed income and commodities. In addition to market making, Virtu offers execution services and trading technology for institutional investors, broker-dealers and other market participants.