First Trust Advisors LP Raises Stock Holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. $VIRT

First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 170.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 555,712 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 350,401 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $24,890,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 96.0% during the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 582 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position in Virtu Financial by 243.0% in the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Virtu Financial by 103.8% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 387 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 1,624.1% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 942 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 410.6% in the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 1,043 shares during the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VIRT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America upgraded Virtu Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Virtu Financial from $48.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Virtu Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.71.

Virtu Financial Stock Up 0.6%

VIRT stock opened at $35.76 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $34.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.83. The stock has a market cap of $5.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.33, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $31.89 and a twelve month high of $45.77.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 32.08%. The company had revenue of $274.00 million during the quarter. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.78%.

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.