Ruffer LLP Buys 46,470 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. $VIRT

Ruffer LLP grew its stake in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VIRT) by 45.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 149,707 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 46,470 shares during the period. Ruffer LLP owned about 0.10% of Virtu Financial worth $4,996,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rothschild Investment LLC raised its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 3,460.0% during the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 692 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 258.3% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 103.8% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 51.9% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 972 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VIRT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Virtu Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Virtu Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 11th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Virtu Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.43.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VIRT opened at $47.86 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.54. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.55 and a 52 week high of $52.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $43.15 and a 200 day moving average of $37.83.

Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.73. The company had revenue of $969.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $513.51 million. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 12.90% and a return on equity of 48.35%. Virtu Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 4.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Joseph Molluso sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,697,624.80. This represents a 37.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 270,000 shares of company stock worth $10,458,644. Insiders own 46.70% of the company’s stock.

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.