Pinebridge Investments L.P. Invests $328,000 in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Pinebridge Investments L.P. acquired a new stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 9,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $328,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in Virtu Financial by 28.2% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,375,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $227,488,000 after purchasing an additional 1,401,688 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,031,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,809,000 after acquiring an additional 52,800 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 180.0% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 948,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,846,000 after acquiring an additional 609,821 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 28.3% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 834,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,027,000 after acquiring an additional 183,823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 802,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,629,000 after acquiring an additional 82,396 shares during the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Virtu Financial news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 178,320 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.57, for a total value of $6,877,802.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 408,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,770,000.19. This represents a 30.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.84, for a total transaction of $2,688,104.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 90,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. This represents a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 496,848 shares of company stock valued at $18,995,338 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 46.70% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

Shares of VIRT stock opened at $39.20 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $36.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 1.13. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a one year low of $21.38 and a one year high of $41.38. The firm has a market cap of $6.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.31. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 27.39%. The firm had revenue of $497.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $444.23 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is currently 27.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VIRT. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Virtu Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.88.

Virtu Financial Profile

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.