Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in Virtu Financial, Inc. $VIRT

Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VIRT) by 15.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 51,705 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,787 shares during the period. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $1,723,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VIRT. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 64.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,370,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,149,000 after purchasing an additional 926,376 shares during the period. Algebris UK Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $22,377,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $19,102,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 53.1% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,367,583 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,549,000 after purchasing an additional 474,177 shares during the period. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 457.9% in the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 337,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,987,000 after purchasing an additional 277,133 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VIRT shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Virtu Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Piper Sandler upped their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Virtu Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.06, for a total transaction of $1,501,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 42,473 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,126,198.38. This represents a 41.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 46.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Virtu Financial Trading Down 1.2%

NYSE:VIRT opened at $51.82 on Wednesday. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.55 and a 52 week high of $56.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $48.32 and a 200 day moving average of $40.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.58, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.62.

Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.24 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 company had revenue of $786.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $613.12 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.30 earnings per share. Virtu Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 5.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.89%.

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.