TrueMark Investments LLC Takes Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. $VIRT

TrueMark Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VIRT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 12,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $419,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VIRT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Virtu Financial by 1.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,999,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,987,000 after buying an additional 142,890 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 64.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,370,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,149,000 after acquiring an additional 926,376 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,785,090 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,374,000 after acquiring an additional 44,976 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 53.1% during the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,367,583 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,549,000 after acquiring an additional 474,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,183,268 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,373,000 after acquiring an additional 222,862 shares during the period. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In related news, COO Joseph Molluso sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.88, for a total transaction of $7,776,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 326,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,697,624.80. This represents a 37.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.61, for a total value of $1,128,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 174,561 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,565,239.21. The trade was a 14.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 270,000 shares of company stock valued at $10,458,644 over the last quarter. Insiders own 46.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on VIRT shares. Zacks Research downgraded Virtu Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Virtu Financial from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Virtu Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.00.

Virtu Financial Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE VIRT opened at $42.83 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.55 and a 1 year high of $45.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $39.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.33.

Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.73. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 48.35% and a net margin of 12.90%.The company had revenue of $969.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $513.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. Virtu Financial’s revenue was up 16.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 27th. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.71%.

About Virtu Financial

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.