1834 Investment Advisors Co. Reduces Stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

During the fourth quarter, 1834 Investment Advisors Co. reduced its investment in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) by 11.7%, as revealed in its latest Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm reported ownership of 286,847 shares after selling 38,066 shares in this period. Currently, Virtu Financial makes up 1.3% of 1834 Investment Advisors Co.'s total holdings, ranking it as the firm’s 15th largest investment. At the close of the last quarter, the company’s stake in Virtu Financial was valued at approximately $10,235,000, equivalent to about 0.19% of the company’s overall assets.

Virtu Financial Alerts:

Other institutional investors have also recently adjusted their positions in Virtu Financial. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, owning 176,438 shares valued at $6,295,000 after acquiring an additional 12,061 shares. Additionally, Albion Financial Group UT made a new investment in Virtu Financial worth around $45,000 during the same quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC raised its ownership by 4.0%, with 45,401 shares worth $1,573,000 following the purchase of an extra 1,745 shares. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. slightly increased its stake by 1.2%, holding 30,132 shares valued at $1,075,000 after adding 371 shares. Lastly, USA Financial Formulas significantly boosted its holdings by 910.5%, now owning 11,085 shares valued at $396,000 after adding 9,988 shares.

As of now, institutional investors and hedge funds hold approximately 45.78% of Virtu Financial’s shares.

Stock Performance of Virtu Financial

On Friday, shares of NASDAQ VIRT opened at $39.52. The stock’s fifty-day moving average price was $36.55, while its 200-day moving average price stood at $32.56. Over the past year, Virtu Financial has seen a low of $16.02 and a high of $39.60. The company’s market capitalization is reported at $6.11 billion, with a price-to-earnings (PE) ratio of 19.86 and a P/E/G ratio of 0.49. The stock has a beta of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, with a current and quick ratio both at 0.47.

Virtu Financial recently announced its earnings results for the quarter ending October 24th, indicating an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.82, which surpassed the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.03. The company's revenue for the quarter was reported at $388.00 million, exceeding analysts' expectations of $379.18 million. Virtu Financial achieved a net margin of 7.29% and a return on equity of 23.22%, showing a revenue increase of 30.2% year-over-year. Last year, the same quarter saw the company earning $0.40 per share. Analysts predict that Virtu Financial will post an EPS of 2.9 for the current fiscal year.

Dividend Announcement by Virtu Financial

Moreover, Virtu Financial recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on December 15th. Shareholders on record as of December 1st received a dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date fell on November 29th, resulting in an annualized dividend of $0.96 and a yield of 2.43%. The current dividend payout ratio for Virtu Financial stands at 48.24%.

Price Target Adjustments from Analysts

Several brokerages have set new price targets for Virtu Financial. Morgan Stanley raised its target price from $23.00 to $25.00 while assigning an "equal weight" rating on October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target from $26.00 to $29.00, maintaining a "neutral" rating on September 30th. Bank of America adjusted its price target down from $37.00 to $35.00, rating the stock as "buy" on October 3rd. Piper Sandler raised the target price from $35.00 to $40.00 with an "overweight" rating on January 7th. Citigroup also increased their target from $32.00 to $37.00, giving it a "buy" rating on October 9th. Currently, five analysts have rated the stock as a hold, while three have recommended a buy, culminating in an average rating of "Hold" with a consensus target price of $30.21 according to MarketBeat.com.

The Profile of Virtu Financial

Virtu Financial, Inc. functions as a financial services company across various regions, including the United States, Asia Pacific, Canada, EMEA, and Ireland. The company operates in two segments: Market Making and Execution Services. Its services include providing execution, liquidity sourcing, analytics, and various broker-neutral and multi-dealer platforms within workflow technology.

investment, financial, stocks