Amalgamated Bank Decreases Stock Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Amalgamated Bank reduced its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,206 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 315 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $899,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,081,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D purchased a new stake in Virtu Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,971,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Virtu Financial by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 391,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,970,000 after buying an additional 5,371 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in Virtu Financial by 60.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 55,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,691,000 after buying an additional 20,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP raised its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 124.7% in the third quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 53,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,638,000 after acquiring an additional 29,844 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In other Virtu Financial news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.41, for a total transaction of $1,271,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 157,703 shares in the company, valued at $5,899,669.23. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.84, for a total value of $2,688,104.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 90,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. This trade 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 140,967 shares of company stock worth $5,213,964 in the last quarter. 46.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

Virtu Financial stock opened at $36.47 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $37.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.50. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.46 and a 52 week high of $41.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.28, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.32. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 27.39%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.32%.

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.