Virtu Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VIRT) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VIRT) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $48.6667.

VIRT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 11th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th.

Virtu Financial Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:VIRT opened at $52.46 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.69, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.62. Virtu Financial has a 1-year low of $31.55 and a 1-year high of $56.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.48. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $47.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.42.

Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.58. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 14.17% and a return on equity of 51.63%. The firm had revenue of $786.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $613.12 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial will post 5.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.89%.

Insider Activity

In other Virtu Financial news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 30,000 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.06, for a total transaction of $1,501,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 42,473 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,126,198.38. This trade represents a 41.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 46.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Virtu Financial

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 3,460.0% during the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 692 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 258.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 514 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 480.6% during the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 836 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 692 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 103.8% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 387 shares during the period. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 93.7% during the 3rd quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management now owns 978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 473 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

About Virtu Financial

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.