Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) Receives $43.00 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $43.00.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VIRT. Bank of America raised Virtu Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped 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. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 30,000 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 174,561 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,565,239.21. The trade was a 14.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 47.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Virtu Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VIRT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 1.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,999,628 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $354,987,000 after buying an additional 142,890 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Virtu Financial by 64.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,370,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,149,000 after acquiring an additional 926,376 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Virtu Financial by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,900,702 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,338,000 after acquiring an additional 115,612 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Virtu Financial by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,395,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,514,000 after acquiring an additional 14,113 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in Virtu Financial by 53.1% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,367,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,549,000 after purchasing an additional 474,177 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of VIRT stock opened at $38.38 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.61. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.45. Virtu Financial has a one year low of $31.55 and a one year high of $45.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.73. The firm had revenue of $969.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $513.51 million. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 32.08% and a net margin of 10.43%.Virtu Financial’s quarterly revenue was up 16.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.71%.

Virtu Financial Company Profile

Virtu Financial, Inc (NASDAQ: VIRT) is a leading global electronic trading firm specializing in market making, liquidity provision and trade execution services across a broad range of asset classes. Leveraging advanced quantitative models and proprietary trading technology, Virtu provides continuous bid and ask quotes in equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, commodities and digital assets. The firm’s infrastructure is designed to operate at high speeds and low latencies, enabling tight spreads and efficient price discovery for its clients.

In addition to its market-making activities, Virtu offers agency execution services, algorithmic trading strategies and transaction cost analysis tools.