Virtu Financial, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.24 (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 1st will be given a dividend of 0.24 per share by the financial services provider on Saturday, June 15th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st.

Virtu Financial has a payout ratio of 40.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Virtu Financial to earn $2.04 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.1%.

Virtu Financial Stock Down 2.8 %

NASDAQ:VIRT opened at $21.23 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.60, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.40. Virtu Financial has a 1-year low of $16.02 and a 1-year high of $22.80. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $19.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.46.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.13). Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 6.22%. The firm had revenue of $535.98 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $272.96 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial will post 1.8 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In related news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu acquired 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $16.21 per share, with a total value of $810,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 584,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,468,779.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 44.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VIRT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 26th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $21.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Virtu Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.75.

About Virtu Financial

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.