Stephen Cavoli Sells 30,000 Shares of Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) Stock

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.61, for a total transaction of $1,128,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 174,561 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,565,239.21. This trade represents a 14.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Stephen Cavoli also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, February 11th, Stephen Cavoli sold 11,630 shares of Virtu Financial stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.66, for a total value of $449,615.80.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Virtu Financial stock opened at $38.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $5.87 billion, a PE ratio of 11.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.61. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a one year low of $31.55 and a one year high of $45.77. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.51.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.73. The firm had revenue of $969.89 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $513.51 million. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 32.08% and a net margin of 10.43%.The business’s revenue was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 18.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on VIRT shares. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Virtu Financial from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Virtu Financial from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Virtu Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Virtu Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.00.

Institutional Trading of Virtu Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 64.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,370,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,149,000 after purchasing an additional 926,376 shares during the last quarter. Algebris UK Ltd. acquired a new position in Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $22,377,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in Virtu Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $19,102,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in Virtu Financial by 53.1% during the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,367,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,549,000 after acquiring an additional 474,177 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 97.8% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 884,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,459,000 after acquiring an additional 437,079 shares during the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Virtu Financial

Virtu Financial, Inc (NASDAQ: VIRT) is a leading global electronic trading firm specializing in market making, liquidity provision and trade execution services across a broad range of asset classes. Leveraging advanced quantitative models and proprietary trading technology, Virtu provides continuous bid and ask quotes in equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, commodities and digital assets. The firm’s infrastructure is designed to operate at high speeds and low latencies, enabling tight spreads and efficient price discovery for its clients.

In addition to its market-making activities, Virtu offers agency execution services, algorithmic trading strategies and transaction cost analysis tools.