Foundry Partners LLC Has $634,000 Holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Foundry Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 21.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,743 shares during the quarter. Foundry Partners LLC’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $634,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 172.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter worth $47,000. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.84, for a total transaction of $2,688,104.28. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 90,749 shares in the company, valued at $3,343,193.16. This represents a 44.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total value of $1,253,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,070,006.64. The trade was a 15.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 140,967 shares of company stock worth $5,213,964 over the last three months. 46.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on VIRT shares. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.21.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of VIRT stock opened at $35.10 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $37.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.53. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.15 and a 12 month high of $41.38. The company has a market capitalization of $5.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.