Peddock Capital Advisors LLC Purchases New Stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Peddock Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 11,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $241,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 21.2% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 221,769 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,830,000 after acquiring an additional 38,862 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 100.4% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 251,857 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,350,000 after purchasing an additional 126,185 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 817,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,111,000 after buying an additional 13,443 shares during the last quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $650,000. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in Virtu Financial by 11.5% in the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 77,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,332,000 after buying an additional 7,956 shares during the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Virtu Financial news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu purchased 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $16.21 per share, with a total value of $810,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 584,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,468,779.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 44.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on VIRT shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Virtu Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Citigroup raised their target price on Virtu Financial from $22.50 to $24.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Virtu Financial from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Virtu Financial from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Virtu Financial from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Virtu Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.24.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

Shares of VIRT traded down $0.41 on Tuesday, reaching $22.36. 545,761 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,084,751. The firm has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.92, a P/E/G ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 0.38. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.02 and a 12 month high of $22.92. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $20.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 67.13%.

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.