Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd Takes Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. $VIRT

Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VIRT) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 54,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,404,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in Virtu Financial by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 12,939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $431,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 8,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $276,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 291 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 18,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $608,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 51.9% in the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 972 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Virtu Financial

In related news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.06, for a total transaction of $1,501,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 42,473 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,126,198.38. This represents a 41.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 46.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VIRT. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Zacks Research raised shares of Virtu Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Virtu Financial from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Virtu Financial from $44.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.67.

Virtu Financial Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of VIRT opened at $59.58 on Wednesday. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.55 and a fifty-two week high of $64.88. The company’s fifty day moving average is $53.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.47. The firm has a market cap of $9.24 billion, a PE ratio of 9.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $786.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $613.12 million. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 51.63% and a net margin of 14.17%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 30.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.30 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 5.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is presently 15.89%.

Virtu Financial Profile

Virtu Financial, Inc is a technology-driven electronic trading firm and market maker that provides liquidity and price discovery across a wide range of financial instruments. Leveraging advanced analytics, high-performance computing and proprietary algorithms, Virtu operates in equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, commodities and derivative products. Its technology platform is designed to capture bid-ask spreads in real time, manage risk through automated controls and adapt to changing market conditions.

The company offers a suite of execution services and market-making solutions to institutional clients such as asset managers, banks, broker-dealers and hedge funds.