Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Acquires 61,477 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd boosted its position in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 533.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 73,003 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 61,477 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $2,584,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VIRT. FMR LLC boosted its position in Virtu Financial by 38.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,974,095 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $151,511,000 after purchasing an additional 1,368,419 shares during the last quarter. Portolan Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Virtu Financial in the third quarter worth about $11,918,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $12,196,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in Virtu Financial by 400.0% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 328,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,008,000 after purchasing an additional 262,835 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Virtu Financial by 28.3% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 834,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,027,000 after purchasing an additional 183,823 shares during the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 157,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,899,669.23. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.84, for a total value of $2,688,104.28. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 90,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. This represents a 44.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 140,967 shares of company stock valued at $5,213,964 in the last quarter. 46.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Virtu Financial Stock Up 2.7 %

NASDAQ VIRT opened at $37.28 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $37.11 and its 200 day moving average is $35.00. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $19.06 and a 12 month high of $41.38. The stock has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a PE ratio of 12.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.58.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted 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 return on equity of 27.39% and a net margin of 9.61%. Research analysts predict that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 32.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Virtu Financial Profile

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.