Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires New Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. $VIRT

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VIRT) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 35,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,557,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VIRT. OP Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the first quarter worth approximately $2,811,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 24.5% during the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 2,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 437 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 208,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,184,000 after purchasing an additional 12,328 shares during the last quarter. Evolve Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Virtu Financial in the 1st quarter worth $202,000. Finally, Pullen Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 1.0% in the first quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 62,042 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,729,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

Shares of VIRT stock opened at $61.85 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.24, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $54.05 and a 200 day moving average of $44.66. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.55 and a 52 week high of $64.88. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 14.17% and a return on equity of 51.63%. The business had revenue of $786.53 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $613.12 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.30 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 30.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 5.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on VIRT shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Virtu Financial from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Zacks Research raised shares of Virtu Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $44.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. 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 issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Virtu Financial news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 30,000 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.06, for a total transaction of $1,501,800.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 42,473 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,126,198.38. The trade was a 41.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 46.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Virtu Financial Company 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.